Price,  20  Cents.  -=^>i 

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A 

HISTOB,Y  'i« 


THE    MEXICAN    WAR, 


OR 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE, 


SHOWING     THE     RELATION     OF     THE 


UNITED  STATES  GOVERNMENT  TO 


SLAVERY 


COMPILED     FROM     OFFICIAL     ANU     AUTHENTIC     DOCUMENTS. 


BY    LORING    MOODY. 


•SECOND  EDITION,  WITH  ADDITIONS  AND  CORRECTIONS. 


BOSTON: 
BELA   MARSH,  25  CORNHILL 

1  848. 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


A 

HIST011Y 


OF 


THE    MEXICAN    WAR, 

OR 

FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE, 

SHOWING     THE     RELATION     OF     TUT 

UNITED   STATES    GOVERNMENT  To 

SLAVERY. 

COMPILED     FROM     OFFICIAL     AM'      AUTHENTIC      DOCUMENTS. 

BY    LORING    MOODY. 

«£COHD   EDITION,  WITH   ADDITIONS   AND   CORRECTIONS. 


BOSTON: 
BELA   MARSH,  25  CORNH1LL. 

1848. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  id  the  year  Eighteen  Hundred  and 
Forty-Eight,  by  LORING  MOODY,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District 
Court  of  Massachusetts* 


ABNER  FORBES,  Printer, 


PREFACE. 


MANY  valuable  works  on  the  relation  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States  to  slavery,  have  already  been  given  to  the  public.  Among  which  are, 
"A  view  of  the  Action  of  the  Federal  Government,"  by  Win.  Jay;  "  Rights 
of  the  Free  States  Subverted,"  by  Joshua  Giddings;  and  "The  Slave 
Power,"  by  John  G.  Palfrey.  The  editions  of  these,  however,  are  quite 
exhausted ;  and  for  many  reasons  it  is  of  great  importance,  that  the  facts 
contained  in  them  should  be  condensed  into  a  single  volume.  New  develop- 
ments of  the  workings  of  Slavery  through  its  grand  agent,  the  government, 
are  every  day  occurrences;  and  as  the  most  remarkable  of  these  are  embod- 
ied in  the  commencement  and  progress  of  the  war  upon  Mexico,  I  have 
collected  from  various  sources  some  of  the  most  prominent  facts  in  the  slave- 
holding  relations  of  the  government,  including  enough  of  the  history  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  Mexican  War,  to  exhibit  in  a  clear  light,  that 
the  sole  object  of  the  nation,  in  the  acquisition  of  the  one,  and  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  other,  is  the  extension  and  perpetuation  of  human  bondage. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  I  hare  been  materially  aided  by  the  above 
mentioned  publications,  for  which  I  have  taken  great  pleasure  in  giving 
credit.  The  facts  contained  in  this  book,  and  the  positions  which  they  are 
summoned  to  establish,  are  believed  to  be  incontrovertible.  They  are  based 
upon  official  documents  which  are  conclusive  on  the  points  to  which  they 
refer.  And  we  shall  challenge  the  history  of  the  world  in  kvain  for  another 
spectacle  of  such  hypocrisy  and  wickedness  as  that  presented  by  this  nation. 
It  is  true,  that  among  the  more  savage  tribes  of  Africa  wars  are  still  carried 
on  for  the  purpose  of  adding  to  the  victims  of  slavery.  But  these  wars  are 
mainly,  though  in  part  indirectly,  chargeable  upon  the  Americans;  who, 
though  they  have  denounced  the  foreign  traffic,  still  give  their  countenance 
and  encouragement  to  the  trade,  by  keeping  open  markets  for  human  flesh 
in  the  Capitol,  and  most  of  the  principal  towns  and  cities  of  more  than  half 
the  States  of  the  Union,  and  make  the  "  protection,  extension,  and  perpetu- 
ation of  slavery,  the  vital  and  animating  principle  of  the  government."  But 


Viii  PREFACE. 

the  Americans  profess  to  be  somewhat  better  than  savages.  Thev  profess 
to  be  republicans — democrats;  and  to  believe  in  the  natural  equality  of  all 
men.  That  they  are  all  created  with  an  inalienable  right  to  frtedom.  They 
also  baptize  themselves  in  the  name  of  Christ.  They  call  themselves  a 
Christian  nation;  and  their  Chief  Magistrate,  it  is  said,  is  "a  man  of 
prayer."  And  they  are  girdling  the  earth  with  operations  for  the  extension 
of  their  own  ideas  and  practices.  But,  while  the  civilized  world  is  awaking 
to  a  juster  appreciation  of  human  rights,  and  adopting  measures  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  human  welfare,  by  taking  steps  for  the  progressive  abolition  of 
old  systems  of  oppression,  the  United  States  are  carrying  on  a  most  bloody 
and  atrocious  war,  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  to  the  earth  the  best  and 
fondest  aspirations  of  the  human  soul,  by  enlarging  the  area,  and  piling  up, 
and  making  strong  and  impregnable  the  frightful  Bastile  of  Slavery. 

Few  Americans  are  aware  of  the  support  the  despotisms  of  the  Old  World 
derive  from  the  system  of  slavery  existing  in  this  country.  A  few  years  ago 
the  Chartists  of  England  and  Scotland  weie  shaking  the  United  Kingdom 
with  their  agitations  in  behalf  of  an  extension  of  the  political  franchise. 
They  declared  that  the  people  were  capable  of  self-government;  and  de- 
manded that  they  should  have  the  same  rights  in  the  choice  of  their  own  leg- 
islators, as  are  enjoyed  in  the  United  States.  And  with  the  Constitution 
of  these  Siates,  and  their  Declaration  of  Independence  in  their  hands,  as 
exponents  of  their  views,  they  were  doing  much  for  the  advancement  of  their 
great  cause.  But  they  were  met  by  the  friends  of  Monarchy,  and  the  peo- 
ple were  told  to  beware  of  them.  That  in  the  United  States,  whose  institu- 
tions were  so  much  lauded,  tluree  millions  of  the  people  were  SLAVES.  That 
their  wives  were,  torn  from  them  and  sold  at  public  auction,  and  their  children  by 
the  pound;  and  that  bad  as  their  condition  was,  the  tallest  Peer  in  the  realm 
dare  not  rob  them  of  either  wife  or  child.  That,  though  poor,  they  were  not 
slaves.  But  the  design  of  these  agitators  was  to  make  them  slaves,  as  their 
reference  to  the  American  Government  clearly  proved. 

An  American  gentleman,*  while  on  a  tour  through  Great  Britain,  in  the 
summer  of  1846,  visited  the  tower  of  London,  and  by  the  payment  of  a  fee 
was  shown  the  Queen's  Jewels,  and  among  other  things,  her  crown.  While 
looking  at  the  costly  bauble,  he  was  told  by  the  lady  who  had  it  in  charge, 
that  the  jewels  with  which  it  was  studded  cost  three  millions  of  pounds 
sterling.  Feeling  his  Republican  spirit  stir  within  him,  he  said,  he  "  thanked 
God  he  did  not  live  in  a  country  where  one  woman  wore  three  millions  of 
pounds  on  her  head,f  while  others  were  starving  for  the  want  of  potatoes." 
"  Well,"  said  an  old  sailor  who  was  standing  near,  "you  may  thank  God 
for  what  you  please,  but  I  thank  him  that  I  do  not  live  in  a  land  where  *  All 
men  are  born  free  and  equal,'  and  three  millions  are  slaves.'* 

In  one  of  James  Brooks's  "  Letters  from  Europe,"  he  says,  that  during 

*  James  N.  Buffum,  of  Lynn,  Mass. 
1 14,490,000  dollars. 


PREFACE.  ix 

the  reign  of  pro-slavery  mohocracy  in  this  country  in  1835-6,  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  left  it  optional  with  some  criminals  to  be  sentenced  to  the  galleys, 
or  banidhed  to  the  United  States. 

Were  the  people  of  this  nation  and  their  institutions  really  what  they  pro- 
fess to  be,  they  would  challenge  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the  world. 
Instead  of  which,  their  hypocrisy  only  excites  its  disgust.  And  the  king- 
ridden  and  priest-ridden  subjects  of  Europe  are  made  to  bear  their  burdens 
in  comparative  silence,  through  fear  of  increasing  their  miseries  in  any 
efforts  to  better  their  condition,  by  attempting  to  throw  off  the  despotisms 
under  whir!)  they  are  groaning.  They  are  not  now  bought  and  sold  like 
dumb  beast*  in  the  market;  but  they  are  told  tha^  millions  of  the  poor  are 
so  disposed  of  in  this  country;  and  that  Bitch  must  inevitably  be  their  fate 
under  a  government  copied  from  the  United  States  of  America. 

This  little  book  is  sent  forth  upon  its  errand,  in  the  hope,  that  so  far  as  it 
is  read,  it  may  aid  in  unmasking  the  hypocrisy  of  a  nation  which  more  than 
any  other  strengthens  the  hands  of  tyrants  and  oppressors  throughout  tlie 
world.  As  a  literary  production  it  claims  no  merit.  But  its  facts  arc  un- 
hesitatingly submitted  to  public  scrutiny. 

L.  M. 
BOSTON,  May,  1847. 


INDEX 


Pa<re 
Adams,  J.  Q.     .  .  .  .  .  .37 

Address  of  Texas  Settlers,        ....  24 

Advertiser,  N.  Y.,  Commercial,       .  .  .  .15,  23 

Mobile,  ....  22 

Albany  Argus,  .  .  .  .  .26 

Almonte's  Letter,       .....  33 

Annexation,  Bill  for,  Bentou's,         .  .  .  .45 

"  Resolve  for,  ....  46 

"  Speeches  on,  .  .  .  .19 

"  Toasts  on,  .  .  .  22,  43 

Arkansas  Gazette,  .  .  .  .  .22 

Army  and  Navy  Chronicle,        ....  .SO 

Attempts  to  obtain  fugitives  from  Mexico,        .  .  .  101 

Austin,  Moses,  ...  .16 

"       Stephen  F.'s  letter,  .  .  .  .23 

Austin  Democrat,       .....  57 

Baker's  Speech,  .....  64 

Benton,  Thomas  H.  ....  19 

Benton's  Speech  —  Texas  Boundary,  .  .  .41 

"       letter  to  Texan  Congress,  ...  41 

Bocanegra's  letter,  .....  33 

Boundary  of  Texas,  .  .  .  .  15,  41 

British  Commissioners,  Report  of,  ...  26 

Canada,  Efforts  to  obtain  Fugitives  from,  .  .  98 

Calhoun's  letter  to  Green,  .  .  .  .34 

"         letters  to  Packenham,  ...  39 

"        Speech,  .....  70 

Claims  for  Mexican  Spoliations,  ...  47 

Charleston  Courier,  .  .  .  .  .66 

Colonization  Laws  of  Texas,  ...  21 

Commerce,  Journal  of,      .  .  .  .  .34 

Complaint  of  Texas  Plotters,     ....  25 

Constitution  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  .  .  .26 

Crimes  and  Outrages,  ....  56 

Debates  on  Panama  Mission,  ....  106 

"      on  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  ...  68 

"     on  the  Creole  Case,  .  .  .  .101 

Decrees  of  Mexico  abolishing  Slavery,     .  .  .  20,  21 

Edgefield  Carolinian,        .....  19 

Efforts  to  prevent  Emancipation  in  Cuba,  ,  .  104 


INDEX.  Xi 

Paec 

England)  Treaties  with,    .                                                  .  96 

Florida,  Invasion  of,                    ....  90 

"        Purchase  of,         .                 .                 .                 .  .91 

"        Treaty,         .....  16 

War,                    .                .                 .                .  .93 

Freemont's  Exploring  Expedition, 

Giiines,  General,                 .                                   .  .29 

Gazeteer,  Brooks',    .....  115 

Haile's  Letter,                    ...  .56 

Hayti,  Relations  to,                     ....  107 

•«       Constitution  of,                        .                 .                 .  .114 

"       Exports  from,                  .                 .                 .                 .  117 

«       Debates  on,                               .                 .  .           118 

History,  Ramsay's      .....  96 

Houston's  Letter,                .                 .                 .                 .  .36 

Horrors  of  the  War,                   ....  58 

Henry  Clay's  Instruction  to  Anderson  and  Sargeant,       .  .           105 

"                "          "  J.  R,  Poinsett,             .  17 

Indian  Relations,                ...  .84 

Insurrection,  Southampton,       ....  102 

Jefferson,  Thomas,            .                .                .                 .  .      15,  96 

Kearney's  Proclamation,             ....  54 

Land  Companies,                .                 .                 .                 .  .18 

Letter  of  Henry  Clay,                  .                 .                 .                 .  30,  32 

"     "      "        "      to  Everett,     .                .                .  .106 

"     "  James  K.  Polk,           ....  32 

"     "  Martin  Van  Buren,             .                 .                .  .      30,  32 

"     "  Upsher  to  Murphy,     ....  37 

"     "  Gen.  Taylor  to  War  Department,     .  50 

"     "  Marcy  to  Taylor,        ....  48 

"     "  Marcy  to  Stephenson,         .  .             66 

Mexican  Character,                     .                                                    •  79 

«'      Indemnities,         .                                   .  47 

Monterey,  Battle  of,                   ....  55 

New  York  Herald,             .....  35 

Oceola, 

Oregon, 

Pensacola  Gazette,                       ...  29 

Polk's  Messages,                 .....  76 

Ringgold,  Major,        .....  61 
Scott's  Mexican  "  Safeguard,"         .... 

"  Proclamation,  ...  75 
Slidell,  John,  Letter  of,  . 

Spirit  of  the  Times,  Letter  to,                     .                 •  52 

Taylor's  Proclamation,      .                                   •  55 

Texas  Constitution,                                       •                 •  46 

"  Necessities  of,  •  »  .  35,  40 
Tyler,  John,  Messages  of,  .  .39,47 
Tribune,  N.  Y.,  Letter  to,  .... 

Treaty  with  Mexico,                    ....  78 

Taylor's  Blood-hound  Letter,             .  .            95 


ADVERTISEMENT  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


ALTHOUGH  the  war  upon  Mexico  stands  among  the  last  of  those  acts  of  the 
American  nation,  which  so  strongly  mark  its  slave-holding  character,  its 
causes  lie  far  hack  in  the  history  of  the  country.  But  though  last  in  the 
order  of  events,  it  stands  first  in  importance.  And,  in  giving  to  the  public  a 
second  edition  of  "  Facts  for  the  People,"  it  has  been  thought  best  to  re- 
arrange the  work  in  such  a  manner  as  to  place  the  history  of  the  Mexican 
War  at  the  commencement  of  the  book;  and  this  appeared  the  more  impor- 
tant as  this  history  occupies  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  volume;  and  should 
therefore  command  the  character  and  title  of  the  work. 

This  arrangement  is  therefore  made  in  the  confidence,  that  it  will  meet 
•with  the  entire  approbation  of  the  reader. 

BOSTON,  April,  1848. 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 


THOSE  who  would  ascertain  the  real  cause  of  the  war  of  the 
United  States  upon  Mexico,  which  has  resulted  in  the  dismem- 
berment of  that  republic,  must  look  far  behind,  in  point  of  time, 
the  advance  of  General  Taylor  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  del 
Norte.  They  will  find  that  it  is  as  old  as  the  constitution  itself. 

The  system  of  slavery,  inwrought  into  the  framework  of  the 
government,  soon  became  its  controlling  element.  It  could 
never  serve.  It  would  never  submit  to  be  circumscribed.  It 
has  ever  sought  to  extend  itself;  and  hence  it  will  appear,  by 
reference  to  well  established  facts,  that  the  colonization  of 
Texas  by  citizens  of  the  United  States  —  the  revolution  in  that 
province  —  the  hurried  acknowledgment  of  its  independence 
by  this  government,  its  annexation  to  this  Union,  and  the  war 
with  Mexico,  are  all  connecting  links  in  a  chain  of  events,  hav- 
ing for  their  sole  object  the  indefinite  extension  and  perpetuation 
of  slavery,  and  the  continued  supremacy  of  the  slave-power  over 
this  nation. 

There  has  been  for  many  years  a  growing  disquietude  among 
the  people  of  the  South  in  regard  to  the  prospects  of  their  "pecu- 
liar institution,"  amounting  to  a  gloomy  apprehension.  They 
have  been  fearful  that  with  the  disappearance  of  slavery  at  the 
North,  and  the  admission  of  new  free  Slates,  would  return  strong 
feelings  of  dislike  and  even  hostility  to  their  most  cherished 
system  ;  and  they  set  themselves  zealously  to  the  work  of  devis- 
ing plans  for  its  future  safety. 

The  American  revolution  gave  a  momentary  impulse  to  the 
principles  of  universal  freedom,  and  led  the  people  of  the  North 
ern  Stale?  to  look  with  a  favorable  eye  towards  the  emancipa- 
tion of  their  slaves.  And,  as  early  as  the  first  of  March,  1780, 
the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  passed  "  an  act  for  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery  "  in  that  State.  The  abolition  of 
1 


J4  FACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

slavery  in  Massachusetts  takes  its  date  one  day  later  than  that 
of  Pennsylvania;  with  this  difference,  that  in  Massachusetts  the 
abolition  was  immediate,  instead  of  gradual ;  it  being  effected 
by  the  adoption  of  its  constitution  and  "  Bill  of  Rights,"  declar- 
ing that  "all  men  were  born  free  and  equal/'  The  act  of 
Pennsylvania  was  followed  by  similar  ones  in  Connecticut,  in 
1784 ;  in  Rhode  Island  of  the  same  date  ;  in  all  the  States  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  river,  by  the  ordinance  of  1787;  in  New 
Hampshire  in  1792  ;  in  New  York  in  1799 ;  and  in  New  Jersey 
in  1804.  So  that  the  fears  of  the  South,  for  the  safety  of  the 
"patriarchal  institution,"'  may  appear  to  have  been  well  grounded. 

In  none  of  the  States  just  mentioned,  was  slavery  ever  regard- 
ed as  a  "  great  interest  ; "  and  therefore  they  could  afford  to 
dispense  with  it.  But  in  giving  up  that  which  was  of  little  value 
to  themselves,  they  by  no  means  made  war  upon  the  system,  as 
existing  in  the  States  of  the  South.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the 
"  fathers  of  the  revolution,"  both  spoke  and  wrote  against  slavery, 
as  unjust  and  cruel ;  and  petitioned  Congress  to  take  measures 
for  its  abolition.  But  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  animated  their 
bosoms  departed  with  them ;  and  its  place  was  occupied  in  the 
bosoms  of  their  sons  by  the  spirit  of  trade.  So  that  what  the 
fathers  regarded,  according  to  the  laws  of  God,  as  a  crime  to  be 
repented  of  and  forsaken,  was  regarded  by  their  sons,  according 
to  the  laws  of  trade,  as  a  fit  subject  for  their  ledgers.  And  as  the 
slave  trade  from  WASHINGTON,  and  Baltimore,  and  Norfolk, 
to  New  Orleans  and  Mobile,  soon  became,  in  consequence  of 
prohibiting  the  foreign  slave-trade,  a  profitable  business  to  North- 
ern ship-owners,  they  resolved  to  stand  by  the  c:  compromises  of 
theconstitution  ;  "  and  give  to  slavery  its  utmost  scope  and  limit; 
so  that  the  fears  of  the  Southern  slave-mongers,  after  all,  were 
not  so  well  grounded  as  they  at  first  imagined.  They  had  many 
sworn  friends  among  their  "Northern  brethren"  yet. 

In  addition,  however,  to  these  fears,  there  has  been,  from  the 
beginning,  among  the  people  of  the  South,  a  growing  jealousy 
of  the  increasing  population,  wealth,  and  influence  of  the  North  ; 
and  a  determination  to  one  day  wield  the  power  by  right  of 
majority  in  the  National  Councils,  which  they  have  hitherto 
wielded  by  bullying  and  threats.  To  accomplish  this  object,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  acquire  a  large  amount  of  territory  from 
some  neighboring  power,  to  be  carved  np  into  slave-holding 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  l& 

states,  and  admitted  to  the  Union  on  the  most  favorable  terms. 
In  casting  about  for  the  discovery  of  some  territory  suitable  for 
this  purjxjse,  their  longing  eyes  naturally  fell  on  Texas,  the 
most  easterly  province  of  Mexico.  And  accordingly,  a  claim 
was  set  up  to  this  territory,  as  "  forming  a  part  of  the  ancient 
province  of  Louisiana,  which  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  by 
France  in  1803."  And  although  Thomas  Jefferson  was  one  of 
the  prime  movers  in  the  scheme  of  acquiring  Texas,  he  admit- 
ted that  this  claim  was  without  any  foundation  ;  for  in  a  secret 
message,  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  16th  of 
December,  1805,  he  used  the  following  language  : 

"  Our  line  to  the  West,  is  one  which  would  give  usbutasZn'ng 
of  land  on  the  Mississippi." 

By  the  "  line  "  here  spoken  of,  was  meant  the  western  bound- 
ary of  Louisiana,  which  was  not  at  that  time  definitely  settled ; 
but  lay  somewhere  between  the  Mississippi  and  Sabine  rivers. 
Yet  this  claim  was  still  pressed  by  Southern  slave-holders,  and 
their  Northern  abettors ;  who  declared  that  Louisiana  extended  to 
the  South-west  as  far  as  the  Rio  del  Norte,  and  was  bounded  on 
the  West  by  that  river.  But  what  was  the  ground  of  this  claim  ? 

"  Why  it  was,  that  La  Salie  having  discovered  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  France  having  made  a  settlement  at  New 
Orleans  France  had  a  right  to  one-half  the  sea-coast  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  next  Spanish  settlement,  which 
was  Vera  Cruz.  The  mouth  of  the  Rio  Bravo  was  about  half 
way  from  the  Balize  to  Vera  Cruz ;  and  so  as  grantees  from 
France,  of  Louisiana,  we  claimed  the  Rio  del  Norte,  though  the 
Spanish  settlement  of  Santa  Fe  was  at  the  head  of  that  river. 
France,  from  whom  we  received  Louisiana,  utterly  disclaimed 
ever  having  even  raised  such  a  pretension.  "  * 

Nor  was  any  portion  of  this  territory  occupied  by  the  United 
States.  A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Commercial  Adver- 
tiser, writing  from  Nacogdoches,  Texas,  September  14,  1836, 
says : 

"  For  a  Ion?  time  after  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  the  United 
States  exercised  jurisdiction  only  to  the  Rio  Hondo,  but  six 
miles  west  of  Natchiloches.  the  immediate  territory  between  this 
point  and  the  Sabine  river,  about  twenty  miles,  being  considered 
neutral  territory." 

•Speech  of  J.  Q.  Adams,  II.  R.  May  25, 1835. 


16  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

Yet,  so  strong  was  the  desire  of  the  slave-holders,  and  so  fixed 
their  determination  to  obtain  possession  of  that  country,  that 

"No  less  than  eight  military  expeditions  were  set  on  foot  in 
the  United  States,  and  prosecuted  more  or  less  to  make  a  lodg- 
ment, and  effect  revolution  and  conquest  in  Texas.  The  first 
was  Burr's,  in  which  Andrew  Jackson  was  a  confederate. 5J  * 

"By  the  Florida  treaty,  which  was  made  in  1819,  Spain  re- 
leased her  claim  to  the  disputed  territory  East  of  the  Sabine, 
apparently  without  any  consideration  except  that  of  obtaining  a 
quiet  and  acknowledged  boundary  ; ;?  —  and  that  river  was  form- 
ally agreed  upon  as  the  boundary  between  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions on  the  west,  and  the  State  of  Louisiana  on  the  east. 

Hardly  was  the  treaty  ratified,  establishing  the  Sabine  as  the 
western  boundary  of  Louisiana,  when  the  South  began  to  com- 
plain of  the  "'surrender"  of  territory;  and  plans  were  set  on 
foot  for  the  "  retrocession  "  of  Texas  to  the  United  States. 

In  1820}  Moses  Austin,  of  Missouri,  obtained  a  large  grant  of 
land  in  Texas,  under  the  following  circumstances  : 

"  Austin  proceeded  to  Mexico,  and  from  thence  addressed  a 
humble  petition  to  the  Catholic  King,  setting  forth  the  cruel  per- 
secutions which  Catholics  were  undergoing  from  the  Protestant 
malignants  of  the  United  States.  The  philanthropic  petitioner 
invoked  the  piety  and  charity  of  his  Catholic  majesty  to  grant  a 
goodly  tract  of  land  in  Texas  as  an  asylum  for  persecuted  saints. 
The  king  granted  the  prayer  of  the  petitioner,  on  condition  that 
none  but  Catholics  should  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  donation. 

"  The  land  was  granted  gratuitously,  to  be  parcelled  out  in  like 
manner,  and  in  certain  proportions,  among  the  refugees.  The 
empresario,  (the  one  undertaking  the  enterprise,)  was  to  be  enti- 
tled, upon  the  settlement  of  three  hundred  families,  to  a  very 
large  tract  within  the  same  grant,  in  his  own  right.  The  colo- 
nists were  required  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  a  test  oath  of 
their  Catholicism,  arid  to  produce  evidence  of  good  moral  char- 
acter. Upon  obtaining  their  allotments  of  land,  arid  residing 
thereon  six  months,  they  were  to  be  deemed  naturalized  sub- 
jects. They  were  exempted  from  taxes  for  ten  years,  and  from 
duties  on  all  imports  for  their  own  use  during  the  same  period."  f 

"  After  obtaining  his  grant,  or  privilege,  he  returned  to  Mis- 
souri, and  proceeded  to  carry  his  colonial  enterprise  into  effect. 
Before  completing  his  arrangements,  however,  Moses  Austin 
suddenly  died  ;  and  his  son,  Stephen  F.  Austin,  took  the  business 
into  his  hands,  as  the  legal  heir  and  representative  of  his  father. 
He  soon  repaired  to  Texas  with  a  considerable  number  of  set- 

*  D.  L.  Child  in  the  A.  S.  Standard,  Oct.  8,  1S46. 
tlbid. 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  17 

tiers,  the  most  of  whom  emigrated  from  the  States  of  Tennessee, 
Missouri,  and  Louisiana.  Bu*  prior  to  his  obtaining  legal  pos- 
session, or  effecting  the  settlement  of  the  families  who  accom- 
panied him,  the  revolution  occurred,  which  annulled  the  author- 
ity of  the  government,  and  resulted  in  the  separation  of  the  Mex- 
ican provinces  from  the  Spanish  Crown. "  * 

"After  the  revolution  and  the  establishment  of  Mexican  inde- 
pendence, this  grant  was  confirmed  by  the  Congress  of  that 
country,  viz.,  in  1823:  the  moral  qualifications  of  the  colonists, 
the  oath  of  allegiance  and  test  oath,  with  needful  changes  of  form 
in  the  two  lastj  remaining  the  same.  The  liberal  terms  granted 
to  colonists,  exempting  them  from  taxation  and  import  duties  for 
ten  years,  opened  to  them  a  wide  field  for  smuggling  and  spec- 
ulation with  the  Indian  traders,  as  well  as  the  native  inhabitants, 
which  they  did  not  fail  to  improve.  Slaves  were  likewise  held, 
in  violation  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State,  and  the  de- 
crees of  the  general  government."  f 

In  this  state  of  things,  overtures  were  made  to  the  government 
of  Mexico,  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  Texas  for  the  purpose  of  annexing  it  to  this  Union. 
Until  the  year  1824,  slavery  existed  without  any  restrictions 
throughout  the  Mexican  States.  In  that  year,  measures  were 
taken  for  its  gradual  abolition  ;  and  in  1829,  by  a  decree  of  Pres- 
ident Guerrero,  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  the  Mexican  Con- 
gress, slavery  was  abolished  throughout  Mexico. 

"  In  March,  1825,  a  few  days  after  the  accession  of  Mr. 
Adams  to  the  presidency,  Henry  Clay,  Secretary  of  State,  in- 
structed /.  R.  Poinselt,  of  South  Carolina,  our  Minister  to  Mexico, 
to  sound  that  government  on  '  the  fixation  of  a  boundary  further 
west  than  the  Sabiue,'  directing  him  to  suggest '  the  river  Brazos, 
or  the  Colorado,  or  the  Snow-Mountains,  or  the  Rio  del  Norte, 
in  lieu  of  the  Sabine."  These  instructions  were  renewed  by 
Clay,  in  March,  1827,  with  considerable  urgency,  and  with  the 
additional  instruction  to  offer  one  million  of  dollars  for  the  entire 
country  as  far  as  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Rio  Puereo,  generously 
proposing  to  leave  Santa  Fe  within  the  limits  of  Mexico.  Soon 
after  Jackson's  accession,  in  August,  1829,  Van  Buren,  his  Sec- 
retary of  State,  again  instructed  Poinsett,  *  to  open  a  negotiation 
forthwith,'  for  the  purchase  of  the  Mexican  territory  as  far  as  the 
great  desert,  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande." 

'•'  The  bid  was  now  increased  to  four  millions  ;  and  '  so  strong,' 
adds  the  Secretary,  '  is  the  President's  conviction  of  the  great 
value  of  the  acquisition,  that  he  will  not  object  to  go  as  high  as 

*  War  in  Texas.  t  Ibid. 

1* 


18  FACTS    FOR    THK    PEOPLE. 

Jive  millions.*  In  this  letter,  for  the  first  time  since  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Florida  treaty,  a  pretence  of  a  right  to  a  boundary  fur- 
ther west,  was  brought  forward.  Van  Buren  states  that  it  has 
been  represented  that  the  river  called  the  Sabine  is  not  the 
Sabine,  but  that  the  Ncckcs  is  the  real  Sabine  !  The  explanation 
of  this  new  pretension  i?,  that  the  Neckes  is  from  twenty  to  one 
hundred  miles  further  west  than  the  Sabine." 

All  the  overtures  were  promptly  rejected  by  the  Mexican 
Government,  as  they  had  no  inclination  to  alienate  any  of  their 
territory.  Yet,  as  we  have  already  shown,  they  evinced  the 
greatest  liberality  to  foreigners  in  granting  them  liberty  to  colo- 
nize their  vacant  lands.  And  as  Texas  had  so  long  been  a  kind 
of  'c  Naboth's  vineyard  "  to  the  slave-holders,  who  had  deter- 
mined, Ahab  like,  to  take  possession  of  it,  either  by  hook  or  by 
crook,  immense  tracts  of  land  were  designated  for  colonization, 
and  contracted  for  by  different  "empressarios  ;  "  partly  for  frau- 
dulent gain,  but  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  by  settle- 
ment and  revolution,  what  the  government  could  not  obtain  by 
negotiation.  Several  "land  companies"  were  also  formed  in 
different  parts  of  the  United  State?,  to  aid  in  playing  this  deep 
game  with  the  more  certainty  of  success. 

"These  companies  created  'stocks'  upon  the  basis  of  these 
grants,  and  threw  them  into  the  market.  They  also  issued  £  scrip/ 
authorizing  the  holders  of  it  to  take  possession  of  certain  tracts 
of  land,  within  the  lines  marked  out  on  the  map,  as  the  bounda- 
ries of  their  respective  grants.  To  a  bona  fide  settler,  (and  none 
else  could  obtain  the  land  it  pretended  to  convey,)  this  scrip 
could  be  of  no  advantage  whatever,  as  the  facilities  and  expense 
of  procuring  his  tract  according  to  law,  would  be  the  same, 
•whether  he  held  it  or  not.  Every  cent  paid  for  it,  therefore, 
was  so  much  loss  to  the  settler,  and  gain  to  the  company.77 

"Although  these  companies  could  only  hold  their  grants 
through  the  medium  of  the  empressarios,  for  the  limited  period 
of  six  years,  and  on  the  express  condition  of  settling  a  specific 
number  of  families,  they  dealt  largely  in  their  '  stock,'  and  sold 
immense  quantities  of  their  c  scrip,'  so  that  large  sums  of  money 
have  no  doubt  been  realized  by  them,  —  while  very  few  settlers 
have  been  introduced.  Thousands,  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States,  purchased  the  scrip  issued  by  them,  and  are  interested  of 
course  in  the  adoption  of  measures  to  legalize  the  claims."  f 

But  this  could  not  be  done  while  Texas  remained  as  a  part  of 

*See  instructions  of  Van  Buren,   Secretary  of  State,  to  J.  R.  Poinsett, 
Minister  to  Mexico,  August  25,  1820. 
t  War  in  Texai. 


FACTS    IOR    THK    PEOPLE.  19 

Mexico,  and  the  colonization  laws  under  which  these  privileges 
were  obtained,  remained  in  peace.  So  that  vast  numbers  of  these 
land-jobbers,  who  had  purchased  those  worthless  titles  to  lands 
in  Texas,  had  in  common  with  the  slave-holders  a  deep  interest  at 
stake  in  the  game  of  annexation.  And  the  government  found 
in  them  a  strong  corps  of  active  allies,  ever  ready  to  second,  or 
to  devise  any  plan  which  seemed  most  likely  to  accomplish  a 
measure  of  such  vital  interest  to  them.  On  this  point  we  have 
the  testimony  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  (quoted  by  the  Boston 
Atlas  in  June,  1847,)  that  "  at  least  two  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
Secretaries  Upshur  and  Gilmer,  were  very  large  landholders  in 
Texas,  and  that  they  strongly  and  incessantly  urged  the  meas- 
ure." 

While  these  diplomatic  and  speculating  chicaneries  were  in 
progress,  Thomas  H.  Benton  wrote  a  series  of  essays  in  the  St. 
Louis  Beacon,  over  the  signature  of  "  Americanus,';  on  the  im- 
portance to  the  South  of  the  "  retrocession  "  of  Texas. 

On  the  subject  of  the  essays,  the  Edgeficld  Carolinian  remarks  : 

"This  large  fragment  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  a/ording  suf- 
ficient territory  for  four  or  five  slave-holding  Stales,  was  uncere- 
moniously sacrificed  to  Spain,  wilh  scarcely  a  pretext  of  demand. 
'  Arnericanus '  exposes  the  evils  to  the  United  States  of  this 
surrender,  under  twelve  different  heads.  Two  of  them  of  par- 
ticular interest  to  this  section  of  the  country,  are,  that  it  brings  a 
non*slave- holding  empire  in  juxtaposition  wilh  the  slave-holding 
South-u-est ;  and  diminishes  the  outlet  for  the  Indians  inhabiting 
the  Slates  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Tennessee." 

A  Charleston  paper,  also,  then  observed:  —  "It  is  not  im- 
probable that  he,  [President  Jackson,]  is  now  examining  the 
propriety  and  practicability  of  a  retrocession  of  the  vast  territory 
of  Texas,  an  enterprise  which  could  not  fail  to  exercise  an  im- 
portant and  favorable  influence  upon  the  future  destinies  of  the 
South,  by  increasing  the  votes  of  the  slave-holding  States  in  the 
United  States  Senate^"  * 

Leading  Southern  statesmen  and  influential  journals  spoke  out 
boldly,  and  avowed  the  objects  for  which  they  wished  to  obtain 
Texas. 

In  1829,  Abel  P.  Upshcr  said  in  the  Virginia  Convention  : 

"  Nothing  is  more  fluctuating  than  the  value  of  slaves.  A 
late  law  of  Louisiana  reduced  their  value  twenty-five  per  cent. 

*War 


20  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

in  two  hours  after  its  passage  was  known.     If  it  should  be  our 
lot,  as  I  trust  it  will,  to  acquire  Texas,  their  price  will  rise" 

Philip  Doddridge,  another  distinguished  member,  said  : 

"  That  the  acquisition  of  Texas  would  greatly  enhance  the 
value  of  the  property  in  question.'' 

Mr.  Gholson  said  in  the  Virginia  Legislature,  in  1832  : 

"  That  the  price  of  slaves  fell  twenty-five  per  cent,  within  two 
hours  after  the  news  was  received  ot  the  non-importation  act, 
which  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Louisiana.  Yet  he  be- 
lieved the  acquisition  of  Texas  would  raise  their  price  fifty  per 
cent,  at  least." 

Mr.  Merrick  said  in  the  Senate  :  —  "It  was  his  firm  belief, 
that  the  annexation  of  Texas,  as  a  market  for  slaves,  would  en- 
able the  South  to  preserve  her  balance  in  the  Union,  that  the 
Union  would  be  more  perfect,  justice  be  better  established,  domes- 
tic tranquillity  better  insured,  the  common  defence  better  provided 
for,  the  general  welfare  better  promoted,  and  the  blessings  of  lib- 
erty to  ourselves  arid  our  posterity  better  secured." 

It  has  already  been  slated,  that  the  government  of  Mexico  had 
abolished  slavery  throughout  that  republic.  In  order  to  set  the 
matter  in  a  clearer  light,  the  decree  of  July  13,  1824,  prohibiting 
the  traffic  in  slaves,  and  the  final  decree  of  President  GUER- 
RERO, utterly  abolishing  the  system  of  slavery,  are  here  inserted, 
together  with  extracts  from  the  colonization  laws  of  Coahula  and 
Texas. 

DECREE   OF  JULY    13,    1824. 
Prohibition  of  the  Commerce  and  Traffic  in  Slaves. 

The  Sovereign  General  Constituent  Congress  of  the  United 
Mexican  States  has  held  it  right  to  decree  the  following: 

1.  The  Commerce  and  Traffic  in   Slaves,  proceeding   from 
whatever  power,  and  under  whatever  flag,  is  forever  prohibited, 
within  the  territories  of  the  United  Mexican  States. 

2.  The  Slaves,  who  may  be  introduced  contrary  to  the  tenor 
of  the  preceding  article,  shall  remain  free  in  consequence  of 
treading  the  Mexican  soil. 

3.  Every  vessel,  whether  National  or  Foreign,  in  which  Slaves 
may  be  transported  and  introduced  into  the  Mexican  Territories, 
shall  be  confiscated  with  the  rest  of  its  cargo;  and  the  owner, 
purchaser,  captain,  master,  and  pilot,  shall  suffer  the  punishment 
of  ten  years  confinement. 

Little  more  than  five  years  afterwards,  the  following  decree 
was  promulgated  by  the  President  of  Mexico. 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  21 

DECREE  OF  PRESIDENT  GUERRERO. 
Abolition  of  Slavery. 

The  President  of  the  United  Mexican  States,  lo  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Republic: 

Be  it  known  :  That  in  the  year  1829,  being  desirous  of  signal- 
izing the  anniversary  of  our  independence  by  an  act  of  national 
Justice  and  Beneficence,  which  may  contribute  to  the  strength 
and  support  of  such  inestimable  welfare,  as  to  secure  more  and 
more  the  public  tranquillity,  and  reinstate  an  unfortunate  portion 
of  our  inhabitants  in  the  sacred  rights  granted  them  by  nature, 
and  may  be  protected  by  the  nation  under  wise  and  just  laws, 
according-  to  the  provision  in  Article  30,  of  the  constitutive  Act; 
availing  myself  of  the  extraordinary  faculties  granted  me,  I  have 
thought  proper  to  decree  : 

l.~That  Slavery  be  exterminated  in  the  Republic. 

2.  Consequently  those  are  free,  who,  up  to  this  day,  have  been 
looked  upon  as  Slaves. 

3.  Whenever  the  circumstances  of  the  Public  Treasury  will 
allow  it,  the  owners  of  Slaves  shall  be  indemnified,  in  the  man- 
ner which  the  Laws  shall  provide. 

JOSE  MARIA  DE  BOCANEGRA. 
Mexico,  Sept.  15 th,  1829,  A.  D. 

Here  follows  three  sections  from  the  colonization  laws  of 
COAHULA  and  TEXAS  ;  the  first  exempting  the  colcnisls  from 
burdens,  and  the  last  forbidding  them  to  impose  burdens  on 
otheis. 

"  ART.  17.  —  Every  new  settlement  shall  be  free  from  nil  con- 
tributions whatever,  for  the  space  of  ten  years  from  the  time  of 
its  establishment,  except  such  as  shall  be  laid  generally,  to  pre- 
vent or  repel  foreign  invasion." 

"ART.  35.  —  The  new  settlers,  in  regard  to  the  introduction 
of  Slaves,  shall  be  subject  to  laws  which  now  exist,  and  which 
shall  hereafter  be  made  on  the  subject." 

"  ART.  36.  —  The  servants  and  laborers  which,  in  future  for- 
eign colonists  shall  introduce,  shall  not,  by  force  of  any  contract 
whatever,  remain  bound  to  their  service  a  longer  space  of  time 
than  ten  years." 

The  South  foresaw,  that  if  these  decrees  were  enforced,  the 
slaves  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  the  neighboring  Stales,  would 
soon  emancipate  themselves  by  runninsr  across  the  Sabine,  and 
taking  refuge  under  the  government  of  Mexico.  She,  therefore, 
stimulated  the  settlers  to  resistance,  and  they  were  totally  disre- 
garded by  the  colonists  from  the  United  Stales,  who  introduced 
large  numbers  of  slaves  into  Texas*,  and  held  them  in  bondage 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

in  spile  of  every  attempt  of  the  Mexican  authorities  to  execute 
the  laws. 

The  Arkansas  Gazette,  a  paper  thoroughly  indentified  with  the 
slave-holding  interest,  held  forth  this  language,  in  the  year  1830, 
respecting  the  purchase  of  the  Texas  country  : 

"  No  hopes  need  be  enteitairied  of  our  acquiring  Texas,  until 
some  other  party  more  friendly  to  the  United  Slates  than  the 
present,  shall  predominate  in  Mexico,  and  perhaps  not  until  the 
people  of  Texas  shall  throw  off  the  yoke  of  allegiance  to  that 
government,  which  they  will  do  no  doubl,  so  soon  as  they  shall 
have  a  reasonable  pretext  for  doing  so.  At  present,  they  are 
probably  subjected  to  as  few  exactions  and  impositions  as  any  people 
under  the  sun." 

The  hint  to  the  Texans  to  "  throw  off  the  yoke  of  allegiance," 
was  even  at  that  early  day  the  expression  of  "a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  wished."  But  as  they  had  no  just  causes  of  com- 
plaint against  the  government  of  Mexico,  "  a  decent  regard  to  the 
opinions  of  mankind,"  made  it  necessary  for  them  to  manufacture 
some  for  the  occasion,  before  publishing  their  "  declaration  of 
independence;"  and  this  they  were  not  long  in  doing.  Before 
proceeding  to  that  part  of  the  subject,  we  will  give  a  few  more 
items  of  proof  to  the  point  under  consideration. 

About  this  time,  the  "Mobile  Advertiser"  spoke  out  on  this 
wise  : 

"The  South  wish  to  have  Texas  admitted  into  the  Union  for 
two  reasons :  First,  to  equalize  the  South  with  the  North;  and 
secondly,  as  a  convenient  and  safe  place,  calculated  from  its  pe- 
culiarly good  soil  and  salubrious  climate,  for  a  slave  population. 
The  question  is  therefore  put  by  the  South  to  Congress  and  the 
country,  '  Shall  we  have  justice  done  us  by  the  admission  of 
Texas  into  the  Union  1  ' ;; 

The  following  toast  was  given  at  a  public  meeting  of  eminent 
politicians  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina: 

"  TEXAS —  If  united  to  our  government  as  a  state,  it  will  prove 
an  invaluable  acquisition  to  the  Southern  States,  and  their  do- 
mestic institutions."  * 

Feeling  that  all  their  efforts  to  get  possession  of  that  depart- 
ment peaceably  would  prove  unavailing,  the  Texas  plotters  now 
began  to  prepare  for  "  the  last  resort  of  nations;  "  the  first  step 
to  which  was,  the  publication  of  a  string  of  complaints  against 

*  War  in  Texas. 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE,  23 

ihe  government   of  Mexico,  which   they  called  their  "declar- 
ation of  independence." 

To  show  that  the  government  had  given  them  no  just  cause  of 
complaint,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  article  from  the  Arkan- 
sas Gazette,  just  quoted,  and  to  the  several  documents  which 
follow  : 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Col.  S.  F.  Austin,  dated 

MONTEREY,  Jan.  17,  1834. 
To  the  Ayuntamicnto  of  San  Felipe  de  Austin  : 

The  general  government  are  disposed  to  do  every  thing  for 
Texas  that  can  be  done  to  promote  its  prosperity  and  welfare, 
that  is  consistent  with  the  constitution  arid  laws,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  the  state  government  will  do  the  same  if  they  are  applied 
to  in  a  proper  manner. 

I  have  long  since  informed  the  Ayuntamiento  of  Texas,  of  the 
repeal  of  the  law  of  April,  and  of  the  favorable  and  friendly 
disposition  of  the  government. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  prospects  of  Texas  are  better 
than  they  ever  have  been.  The  national  revolution  is  ended,  a 
constitutional  government  exists,  the  people  are  obedient  to  the 
government  and  laws  every  where.  Be  the  same  in  Texas,  and 
have  no  more  excitements,  tolerate  no  more  violent  measures, 
and  you  will  prosper,  and  obtain  from  the  government  all  that 
reasonable  men  ought  to  ask  for. 

Respectfully  your  most  obedient  servant, 

STEPHEN  F.  AUSTIN. 

A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  for 
whose  trustworthiness  the  editor  vouched,  wrote  as  follows, 
Sept.  14,  1836  : 

'•'  I  came  to  Texas  seven  years  since,  possessed,  as  I  thought, 
of  good  titles  to  a  league  of  land,  purchased  in  New  York,  of  an 
individual,  who,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  had  sold  many  other 
leagues.  On  my  arrival,  I  immediately  applied  to  the  proper 
officer  to  be  put  in  possession  of  my  land,  when,  much  to  my 
surprise,  I  uas  told  that  my  titles  were  good  for  nothing;  but 
was  informed  at  the  same  time  that  I  was  welcome  to  land,  and 
that  I  might  select  any  vacant  land.  T  accordingly  possessed 
myself  of  a  league  of  fine  land,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Mexico,  and  have  lived  in  prosperity  and  happiness  till  the 
Texan  revolution,  since  which  time  I  must  confess  I  have  lasted 
more  bitterness,  grief,  and  trouble, 'than  I  had  done  in  all  my 
past  life  before.  The  like  declaration  will  be  made  by  every 
American  who  settled  in  Texas,  whenever  they  can  do  so  with- 
out the  fears  that  make  them  mute.  I  now  allude  to  those 


24  FACTS    FOR    TH£    PEOPLE. 

Americans  who  had  been  settlers  for  any  time,  and  who  had 
fulfilled  the  conditions  entitling  them  to  their  lands,  and  not  for 
those  who  came  for  the  express  purpose  of  sowing  a  rebellion,  oigan- 
ized  and  matured  by  those  who  had  forged,  or  had  purchased 
forged  titles  to  lands,  and  were  in  advance,  determined  to  cre- 
ate°a  rebellion  that  they  might  perfect  those  titles." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  address  of  a  General  Con- 
vention of  Texas  settlers,  opposed  to  the  proceedings  of  the  con- 
spirators, held  in  November,  1834. 

"  When  a  country  is  in  a  prosperous  and  flourishing  condition  ; 
when  the  mass  of  the  people  are  contented  and  happy ;  when  all 
are  industriously  employed  in  their  respective  pursuits;  it  surely 
is  a  most  unwise  policy  in  any  man  or  set  of  men  to  arouse  dis- 
sensions among  them,  and  scatter  the  seeds  of  discord  and  con- 
fusion. And  we  ask  the  people,  we  call  upon  the  '  old  settlers,' 
the  pioneers,  who  have  borne  the  brunt  and  hardships  of  popu- 
lating the  wilderness,  if  they  have  ever  known  a  time  when  the 
prospects  of  the  country  were  more  flattering  than  at  pres- 
ent! "  "  We  ask  you  in  the  spirit  of  candor,  and  with  the  privi- 
leges of  first  pioneers,  has  the  government  ever  exacted  any- 
thing unreasonable  of  Texas'?  If  it  has.  we  must,  before  God 
and  our  country,  say  we  know  it  not.  Again,  for  your  experi- 
mental knowledge  shall  bear  us  out;  has  it  ever  burdened  you 
with  taxes,  or  the  performance  of  arduous,  expensive,  or  perilous 
duties'?  Nay,  has  Texas  ever  borne  any  part  in  the  expenses 
of  sustaining  the  government  that  protects  her  citizens,  their 
lives,  their  liberty,  and  their  property  1  " 

"Another  address  put  forth  in  1835,  the  year  the  war  com- 
menced, by  an  assembly  of  delegates  from  every  precinct  of 
Texas,  states  that  some  merchants,  importers  of  goods,  had  re- 
fused to  pay  duties,  that  a  lawless  coast  from  Nueces  to  the 
Sabine  had  been  the  result ;  that  a  mob  had  made  prisoners  of 
and  disarmed  a  detachment  of  soldiers  stationed  to  support  the 
revenue  officers  at  Anahuac  ;  and  that  some  Mexicans  had  been 
shot  as  spies.  The  address  goes  on  : 

'That  such  outrages  on  the  government  under  which  we  live, 
should  have  been  committed  by  some  individuals  is  much,  very 
much  to  be  lamented.  But  it  is  still  more  to  be  lamented,  that 
Texas,  whose  interests  lie  in  peace,  and  the  majority  of  whose 
citizens  are  peaceful,  should  be  dragged  into  a  collision  with 
their  own  government,  by  the  precipitate  and  unjustifiable  acts 
of  a.  few.  It  is  not  that  government,  which  has  committed  on  us 
aggression.  It  is  a  certain  part  of  the  Texas  inhabitants,  who 
have  proved  to  be  the  unprovoked  and  unnecessary  aggressors.' JJ 

"The  document  above  quoted,  maybe  found  in  Edward's 
History  of  Texas.  The  war  party  is  thus  described  by  the  his- 
torian, who  was  residing  in  Texas,  as  the  preceptor  of  a  semi- 
nary : 


FACT*    FOR    THE    PEOPLE-  25 

1  I  think  I  hear  the  reader  exclaim,  as  every  honest,  sober, 
peaceful  citizen  of  Texas  did  at  the  time,  (1834,  1835,)  Good 
God,  what  a  set  of  deceitful,  ambitious,  and  ungrateful  men 
have  got  into  our  country.'  '  They  were  joined  by  their  best 
friends,  the  slave-holders,  who  said  their  negroes,  G — d  d — n 
'em,  were  on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation,  and  rejoicing  that  the 
Mexicans  were  coming  to  make  them  free.'  '  The  alarming 
party  were  few  in  comparison,  but  they  were  talented,  syste- 
matized, closely  connected,  and  indefatigable  in  their  endeavors 
to  infuse  suspicions  against  the  General  Government,  and  com- 
mit the  country  without  the  possibility  of  a  recall.'  c  This  paity 
has  increased  a  hundred  fold  since  l"832,  by  bad  slave-holders, 
who  have  had  two  cargoes  distributed  among  them  by  African 
kidnappers.'  *  At  this  time,  the  public  press  in  Brazoria,  (the 
only  one  in  Texas.)  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  united 
company  of  Whigs,  as  they  termed  themselves,  but  according 
to  the  opposition  majority,  land-jobbers,  lawless  merchants,  slave- 
holders, office-seekers,  and  vain  grog-drinking  boasters.  Reso- 
lutions and  addresses  were  distributed  in  every  quarter  by  a 
committee  of  men  appointed  expressly  for  that  purpose.'  *  They 
threatened  the  peaceful  inhabitants,  whom  they  called  Tories, 
with  their  vengeance,  if  they  dared  to  interrupt  them  in  their 
high-handed  proceedings.'  ,*  Still  the  addresses  from  the  people 
or  farmers  to  the  Mexican  authorities,  were  of  the  most  friendly 
and  peaceable  character;  but  those  from  the  agitators,  and 
would-be  office  or  land-holders,  were  of  the  most  threatening 
and  dangerous  sort.'  ': 

And  yet,  while  these  "  men  of  Belial  "'were  thus  riding  rough- 
shod over  the  Mexican  authorities,  and  trampling  on  the  rights 
of  the  peaceful  citizens,  they  were  complaining  of  the  "  tyranny 
and  oppression  "  of  the  government.  And,  as  a  specimen  of 
what  they  complained  of,  we  here  insert  two  articles  from  their 
"list  of  grievances." 

"  It  [the  General  Government]  denies  us  the  right  of  wor- 
shipping the  Almighty  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  con- 
sciences,—  by  the  support  of  a  national  religion,  calculated  to 
promote  the  temporal  interests  of  its  human  functionaries,  rather 
than  the  glory  of  the  true  and  living  God." 

The  next  extract  is  as  follows  : 

u  It  has  failed  and  refused  to  secure  on  a  firm  basis  the  right 
of  trial  by  jury,  that  palladium  of  civil  liberty,  and  only  safe 
guarantee  for  the  life,  liberty  and  property  of  the  citizens." 

As  an  answer  to  this  charge,  it  may  be  stated :  that  notwith- 
standing the  u  trial  by  jury  "  was  unknown  to  the  jurisprudence 
of  Spain,  from  which  Mexico  derived  her  institutions,  meaiures 
2 


26  FACTS  ion  THB  PEOPLE. 

were  already  adopted  for  its  establishment  in  that  country,  as 
the  following  article  from  the  constitution  of  Coahula  and  Texas 
will  prove. 

"192.  One  of  the  principal  subjects  for  the  attention  of  Con- 
gress, [Slate  Legislature,]  shall  be  to  establish  in  criminal  case*, 
the  trial  by  jury,  extending  it  gradually,  and  even  adopting  it 
in  civil  cases,  in  proportion  as  the  advantages  of  this  precious 
institution  may  be  practically  developed.'' 

The  certainty  of  success  which  promised  to  crown  the  efforts 
of  the  slave-breeders,  to  wrest  Texas  from  Mexico,  had  already 
given  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  Havana  slave-trade,  by  opening  a 
new  field  of  operations  to  these  enter  prising  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  who  now  engaged  in  their  old  business  of  man-stealing 
on  a  large  scale. 

The  following  extract  from  a  report  of  the  British  commission- 
ers for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  appointed  to  reside  in 
Cuba  under  the  treaty  of  1817,  will  throw  some  light  on  this 
subject.  The  report  is  dated  Jan.  1,  1836  ;  the  extract  as  fol- 
lows : 

"Never  since  the  establishment  of  this  mixed  commission 
has  the  slave-trade  of  the  Havana  reached  such  a  disgraceful 
pitch,  as  during  the  year  1835.  By  the  list,  we  have  the  honor 
to  enclose,  it  will  be  seen  that  fifty  slave  vessels  have  safely 
arrived  in  this  port  during  the  year  just  expired.  In  1833,  there 
were  twenty-seven  arrivals,  and  in  1834,  thirty-three  :  but  in 
1835  presents  a  number,  by  means  of  which  there  must  have 
been  landed  upwards  of  fifteen  thousand  negroes. 

"In  the  spring  of  last  year,  an  American  agent  from  Texas 
purchased  in  the  Havana  two  hundred  and  fifty  newly  imported 
Africans,  at  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  per  head,  and 
carried  them  away  with  him  to  that  district  of  Mexico.  This, 
perhaps,  would  have  been  scarcely  worth  mentioning  to  your 
lordship,  had  we  not  learned,  that  within  the  last  six  weeks  con- 
siderable sums  of  money  have  been  deposited  by  the  American 
citizens  in  certain  mercantile  houses  here,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  additional  purchases  of  bozal  negroes  for  Texas.  A 
great  impulse  is  thus  given  to  this  illicit  traffic  of  the  Havana. 
We  thought  the  first  experiment  to  be  of  little  consequence; 
but  now  that  we  perceive  fresh  commissions  arriving  in  the  Ha- 
vana, for  the  purchase  of  Africans,  we  cannot  refrain  from  calling 
your  lordship's  attention  to  the  fact,  as  being  another  cause  of 
the  increase  of  the  slave-trade  of  the  Havana." 

The  foregoing  throws  light  on  the  following  recent  article  in 
the  Albany  Argus  : 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  27 

uThe  fate  of  Henry  Bartow,  late  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of 
this  city,  has  al  length  been  definitely  ascertained.  The  agent 
sent  out  by  the  bank  has  returned,  and  states  that  Bartow  died 
at  Mririauria,  near  Columbia  in  Texas,  on  the  30th  of  June  last, 
ol  the  fever  of  the  country,  after  an  illness  of  about  four  weeks. 
He  had  purchased  a  farm  on  the  Brazos,  and,  in  company  with 
a  native  of  the  country,  had  commenced  an  extensive  plantation, 
and  sent  $10,000  to  Cuba  for  ihe  purchase  of  slaves."  * 

But  as  the  "  democracy  "  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in 
"  opening  up"  this  new  market  for  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men, 
Cuba  was  not  long  suffered  to  enjoy  the  rich  profits  of  this  lucra- 
tive traffic  ;  lor  as  soon  as  the  Texians  got  time  to  make  a  "  con- 
stitution," acting  on  the  reciprocal  principle,  that  ''  one  good 
turn  deserves  another,"  they  set  this  matter  right,  by  inserting 
in  that  instrument  a  provision,  punishing  as  pirates  any  who 
should  thereafter  be  so  wicked  as  to  defraud  the  Americans  of 
their  dues,  by  bringing  slaves  into  that  "Republic,"  from  any 
other  country  than  the  United  States,  f 

The  preparations  which  had  been  so  long  in  progress  were  at 
length  completed,  arid  soon  the  forcible  resistance  to  the  laws 
assumed  a  systematic  form  —  a  state  of  war  existed;  and  al- 
though Texas  did  not  declare  in  form,  as  the  "  mother  "  of  this 
young  "  harlot  "  has  since  done,  she  did  in  fact  declare,  that  the 
"  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico."  ij: 

The  battle  was  now  fairly  begun.  Large  meetings  of  "sym- 
pathizers" were  held  in  most  of  the  principal  cities  and  towns 
in  the  West,  and  on  the  sea-board  ;  flaming  advertisements  were 
inserted  in  Southern  arid  Western  newspapers,  calling  on  the 
lovers  of  liberty  to  go  and  assist  the  "  Texas  patriots."  The 
State  arsenal  at  Cincinnati  was  emptied  of  its  arms,  and  volun- 
teers rushed  in  crowds  "  to  the  rescue,"  until  the  battle  of  San 
Jacinto  decided  the  controversy,  and  doomed  Mexico  to  dis- 
memberment, if  not  to  ruin.  The  "independence  "  of  Texas  was 
achieved,  and  propositions  were  made  to  be  admitted  as  a  new 
State  to  the  American  Union. 

The  bloody  meteor  emblazoned  on  its  banner  had  scarcely 
burst  from  the  murky  clouds  of  slavery,  when  it  was  proposed 
to  incorporate  it  with  the  bloodier  "  stars  and  stripes  "  of  the 

*  Legion  of  Liberty,  1844. 

t  See  Con.stimtion  of  Texas. 

|  Declaration  of  War  against  Mexico,  by  Congress,  August  11,  1846. 


28  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

"  Northern  Republic."  When  the  baleful  light  of  that  "lone 
star  "  first  gleamed  across  our  country,  its  lurid  glare  sent  terror 
and  dismay  to  the  hearts  of  millions  of  our  race.  It  was  a  sign 
in  the  political  heavens,  which  foreboded  the  long  continuance 
of  the  terrible  night  of  slavery. 

But,  Texas,  as  we  have  hinted,  did  not  gain  her  independence 
alone  and  unaided.  Left  to  herself,  as  we  have  clearly  shown, 
she  would  never  have  sought  it.  Henry  A.  Wise  boasted,  that 

"It  was  the  people  of  the  great  valley  who  conquered  Santa 
Anna  at  San  Jacinto ;  and  three-fourths  of  them,  after  winning 
that  glorious  field,  had  returned  peaceably  to  their  homes."  * 

To  show  that  Wise  spoke  the  truth,  we  here  insert  some  of 
the  "Notices"  above  alluded  "to.  The  following  is  from  a 
North  Carolina  paper : 

"WHO  WILL  GO  TO  TEXAS'?  —  Major  J.  H.  Harry,  of  Lincoln- 
ton,  has  been  authorized  by  me,  with  tlie  consent  of  Major  Gen- 
eral Hunt,  an  agent  in  the  western  counties  of  North  Carolina, 
to  receive  and  enrol  volunteer  emigrants  to  Texas,  and  will  con- 
duct such  as  may  wish  to  emigrate  to  that  Republic,  about  the 
first  of  October  next,  at  the  expense  of  the  Republic  of  Texas. 

J.  P.  HENDERSON, 
Brig.  Gen'l  of  Texian  Army. 
August,  1836." 

The  following  will  give  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  these 
operations  were  carried  on  : 

THREE  HUNDRED  MEN  FOR  TEXAS.  —  General  Dunlap  of  Ten- 
nessee, is  about  to  proceed  to  Texas  with  the  above  number  of 
men.  The  whole  corps  are  now  at  Memphis.  They  will  not, 
it  is  said,  pass  this  way.  Every  man  is  completely  armed,  the 
corps  having  been  originally  raised  for  the  Florida  war.  This 
force,  we  have  no  doubt,  will  be  able  to  carry  everything  before 
it.  —  Vicksburg  Register. 

In  the  summer  of  1836,  Capt.  Lawrence  opened  a  recruiting 
office  in  Front  street,  Cincinnati,  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting 
11  emigrants"  for  Texas.  A  public  meeting  was  called  to  raise 
funds  and  fill  up  the  ranks,  at  which  N.  C.  Read,  United  States 
district  attorney  for  Ohio,  attended,  and  made  a  speech  in  favor 
of  the  objects ;  arid  a  committee  was  chosen  to  help  carry  them 
out.  An  interesting  notice  of  these  proceedings  was  taken  by 

*  Speech  in  Congress,  April,  1842. 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  29 

Charles  Hammond,  Esq.,  and  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Daily 
Gazette. 

That  the  "  volunteer  emigrants  "  were  not  alone  in  this  pirati- 
cal crusade,  will  be  seen  by  the  following  : 

"  General  Gaines  was  authorized  to  cross  the  boundary  line 
with  his  army  ;  to  march  seventy  miles  into  the  Mexican  territory  ; 
and  to  occupy  the  military  post  of  Naeogdoches,  in  case  he  should 
judge  it  expedient,  in  order  to  guard  against  Indian  depredations !  — 
Arid  further:  he  was  likewise  authorized  to  call  upon  the  Gov- 
ernors of  several  of  the  South-western  States  for  an  additional 
number  of  troop?,  should  he  consider  it  necessary" 

11  In  order  to  furnish  an  excuse  for  the  exercise  of  the  authority 
thus  delegated  to  him,  many  false  rumors  of  Indian  depredations 
and  hostile  movements  were  reported  to  the  Commander  of  the 
United  Slates  forces,  and  he  did  not  neglect  the  occasion  for 
pushing  to  the  very  extent  of  his  conditional  instructions.  He 
even  went  so  far  that  the  Executive  became  alarmed,  lest  the 
1  neutrality  '  of  our  government  should  be  violated! !  Yet  he  was 
still  permitted  to  keep  an  imposing  force  stationed  in  the  Mexi- 
can territory;  and  it  was  understood  that  he  was  in  regular  cor- 
respondence with  the  chiefs  of  the  insurgent  armies;  also  that 
his  men  were  '  deserting  '  and  joining  them  in  great  numbers."  * 

On  the  subject  of  these  "  desertions,"  hear  the  following  from 
the  Pensacola  Gazette  : 

"  About  the  middle  of  last  month,  General  Gaines  sent  an 
officer  of  the  United  States  army  into  Texas  to  reclaim  some  de- 
serters. He  found  them  already  enlisted  in  the  Texian  service 
to  the  number  of  two  hundred.  They  still  wore  the  uniform  of 
our  army,  but  refused  of  course  to  return.  The  commander  of 
the  Texian  forces  was  applied  to,  io  enforce  their  return  ;  but  his 
only  reply  was,  that  the  soldiers  might  go,  but  he  had  no  au- 
thority to  send  them  back." 

Thus  it  appears,  that  while  these  lawless  desperadoes  were 
in  the  act  of  plundering  Mexico  of  one  of  her  fairest  provinces, 
for  the  purpose  of  annexing  it  to  the  United  States,  as  a  new 
market,  in  which  republican  slave-breeders  and  slave-traders 
might  ply  their  traffic,  the  army  of  this  same  nation  was  hover- 
ing near;  ready  to  aid  the  plunderers,  if  aid  should  be  needed. 
As  a  proof  of  this,  read  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  army,  published  at  the  lime,  in  the 
Army  and  Navy  Chronicle.  Speaking  of  the  advance  of  Gen. 
Gaines'  troops  to  Nticogdoches,  he  says  : 

*  War  in  Texas,  p.  20. 

2* 


30  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

<:  It  is  to  create  the  impression  in  Texas  and  Mexico,  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  takes  a  part  in  the  controversy. 
It  is  in  fact  lending  to  the  cause  of  Texas  all  the  aid  which  it  can 
derive  from  the  countenance  and  apparent  support  of  the  United 
States,  besides  placing1  our  troops  in  a  situation  to  take  an  actual 
part  in  aid  of  the  Texians,  in  case  a  reverse  of  their  aifairs  should 
render  aid  necessary.  The  pretext  of  the  anticipated  invasion 
from  the  Indians  in  that  quarter,  is  unsupported  by  the  least 
probable  testimony,  although  Gen.  Houston  has  issued  a  procla- 
mation, dated  at  Nacogdoches,  ordering  out  a  body  of  two  hun- 
dred Texian  militia  'to  sustain  the  United  Slates  force  at  this 
place,  until  reinforcements  can  arrive  from  Gen.  Gaines.'  " 

In  the  letter  of  Mr.  Clay,  to  the  National  Intelligencer,  dated 
Raleigh,  April  17,  1844,  he  says  : 

"The  signal  success  of  that  revolution  was  greatly  aided,  if 
not  wholly  achieved,  by  citizens  of  the  United  "States  who  had 
migrated  to  Texas." 

Mr.  VanBuren,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Hammett,  April  20,  1844, 
testifies  to  the  same  thing  •  he  says  : 

"  Nothing  is  either  more  true  or  more  extensivelyknown,  than 
that  Texas  was  wrested  from  Mexico,  and  her  independence 
established  through  the  instrumentality  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States." 

Such  are  the  purposes  for  which  Mexico  was  at  first  invaded, 
and  despoiled  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixly  thousand 
square  miles  of  territory  ;  and  such  the  means  by  which  these 
purposes  have  been  accomplished.  How  she  has  been  more 
recently  robbed  of  the  territory,  —  as  James  K.  Polk  tells  us  in 
his  late  message,  "larger  than  the  thirteen  original  States 
of  this  Union," —  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

As  soon  as  the  Texians  had  gained  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
they  demanded  to  be  "annexed  to  the  United  States."  Not  in 
the  tone  of  suppliants,  quite  the  contrary  ;  with  the  butt  of  their 
slave-whips,  while  their  knuckles  were  dripping  with  blood, 
they  were  found  on  the  steps,  thundering  at  the  door  for  admis- 
sion to  the  Union.  The  South  was  ready  for  the  measure,  as  she 
ever  had  been.  But  the  North  hesitated,  and  wavered. 

The  proposition  was  at  first  a  startling  one  to  the  "  free  States." 
as  they  are  called,  as  if  in  derision.  And  many  of  their  legisla- 
tures passed  "resolves"  against  the  measure,  declaring  that 
"  Congress  had  no  power  to  annex  a  foreign  nation  to  the  United 


FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  31 

States;"  and  declaring  '-that  no  act  done,  or  compact  made,  for 
such  a  purpose,  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  will  be 
binding  on  the  States  or  the  people."  #  But  the  South  knew  her 
men.  They  had  of  their  own  accord,  harnessed  themselves  to 
her  bloody  car.f  And  patiently  had  they  drawn  it  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  True,  they  had  occasionally  threatened  to  kick, 
when  they  felt  its  burdens  so  intolerably  heavy,  as  to  gall  them  to 
blood.  But  then  a  few  cracks  of  her  whip  had  always  brought  them 
to  submission  again  —  never  to  their  senses  —  and  she  well  knew 
it  would  be  so  now.  So  she  laughed  at  their  bluster,  and  man- 
aged the  whole  affair  in  her  own  way,  as  she  had  ever  done. 

But  even  the  patient  ox  has  been  known  to  get  breachy;  and 
the  staid  "  sons  of  the  pilgrims  "  might  also  become  restive,  if 
their  yoke  was  suddenly  made  too  heavy.  The  South  knew 
that  time  and  familiarity  would  work  marvellous  changes  in 
men's  feelings.  Nor  was  she  a  stranger  to  the  fact,  that  the 
thrifty  Northerners  loved  money  •  and  set  a  high  value  on  cotton  ; 
and  cotton  had  already  begun  to  grow  in  Texas ;  and  sheetings 
from  Lowell  were  sold  there.  So  she  took  counsel  of  these 
things,  and  waited  for  a  "  more  convenient  season." 

The  year  1844  brought  with  it  a  Presidential  election,  and  at 
this  period  the  South  resolved  to  make  the  grand  issue.  The 
North  was  loyal  to  the  Union  ;  and  she  was  given  to  compromis- 
ing. She  had  compromised  in  the  beginning;  and  again  in 
1820,  when  Missouri  came  in.  And  the  South  knew  that  she 
would  compromise  again,  if  a  little  time  was  given.  So  io  famil- 
iarize them  with  the  subject,  she  "  kept  it  before  the  people," 
in  her  journals,  and  public  speeches  at  Annexation  meetings, 
and  toasts  at  political  gatherings.  The  two  prominent  candi- 
dates for  the  Presidency  were  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky,  and 
Martin  Van  Buren  of  New  York.  The  former  was  a  slave-hold- 
er; arid,  although  the  latter  had  long  been  known  as  a  "North- 
ern man  with  Southern  principles,"  the  South  distrusted  him.  She 
was  afraid  that  he  was  not  "sound  to  the  core"  on  the  subject 
of  her  favorite  measure.  To  put  the  matter  at  rest,  therefore, 
and  to  get  the  issue  fairly  before  the  people  at  the  coming  elec- 
tion, ihe  two  rival,  and  several  other  candidates  who  "offered," 

*  See  Resolves  of  Massachusetts  Legislature,  1838,  of  Vermont,   1837, 
also  of  Rhode  Island,  Ohio,  and  Michigan. 
|By  adopting  the  Constitution. 


32  FACTS    TOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

were  requested  to  give  a  public  expression  of  their  views  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas.  The  reply  of  Clay,  the  Whig  candidate, 
was  evasive.  To  the  question  as  put  to  him  from  different  parts 
of  the  country,  he  returned  various  answers.  In  his  letter  to  the 
National  Intelligencer,  dated  Raleigh,  April  17,  1844,  he  holds 
the  following  among  other  contradictory  sentiments  : 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  if  the  government  of  the  United 
States  were  to  acquire  Texas,  it  would  require  along  with  it  all 
the  incumbrances  which  Texas  is  under,  and  among  them  the 
actual  or  suspended  war  between  Mexico  and  Texas.  Of  that 
consequence,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt.  Annexation  and  war  with 
Mexico  are,  identical.  Now,  for  one,  I  certainly  am  not  willing  to 
involve  this  country  in  a  foreign  war  for  the  object  of  acquiring 
Texas  "####*****# 

"  If  any  European  nation  entertain  any  ambitious  designs  upon 
Texas,  such  as  that  of  colonizing  her,  or  in  any  way  subjugating 
her,  I  should  regard  it  as  the  imperative  duty  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  to  oppose  to  such  designs  the  most  firm  and 
determined  resistance,  to  the  extent,  if  necessary,  of  appealing  to 
arms  to  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  any  such  designs." 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  Democratic  candidate,  expressed  himself 
as  decidedly  opposed  to  the  measure  under  existing  circum- 
stances. 

His  answer  produced  the  greatest  excitement  among  the  circle 
of  political  Democrats  at  the  Capitol.  The  Washington  corres- 
pondent of  the  Liberator,  under  the  date  of  April  28,  1844,  says: 

"  There  is  the  greatest  possible  commotion  here  among  the 
political  elements.  The  Southern  portion  of  the  Democracy  are 
furious  at  Van  Buren's  letter  ;  for  their  watch-word  is,  'Now,  or 
never.'  There  is  considerable  chance  that  he  will  be  dropped, 
and  Tyler,  Cass,  or  Calhoun,  taken  up." 

He  was  mistaken,  however,  in  regard  to  the  slave-holders'  can- 
didate, as  almost  every  body  else  was. 

Several  others,  who  were  anxious  to  secure  the  nomination, 
expressed  themselves  as  decidedly  favorable  to  annexation. 

But  the  answer  of  J.  K.  Polk  left  no  donbt  among  the  slave- 
holders, as  to  their  man.  The  following  is  from  the  first  para- 
graph, dated  "  Columbia,  Tenn.,  April  23,  1844  :  " 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  —  I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  I  am  in 
favor  of  the  immediate  re-annexation  of  Texas  to  the  territory  and 
government  of  the  United  State?." 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  33 

"Immediate  re-annexation!"  There  was  something  so  deliberate 
and  straight-forward  in  this,  as  to  be  entirely  satisfactory,  even  to 
the  unscrupulous  villains  who  rule  this  nation. 

The  Baltimore  Convention  assembled  on  the  27th  of  May.  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  the  idol  of  the  Democratic  party  ;  and  large  num- 
bers of  the  delegates  from  the  North  had  gone  there,  pledged  to 
his  support.  But  slavery  had  been  holding  a  conclave.  And 
James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  was  selected  as  her  most  fitting 
tool.  And  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  unceremoniously  dashed  into  the 
sea  of  political  oblivion ;  and  his  worshippers  were  compelled  to 
forego  the  pleasure  of  his  nomination,  and  to  vote  for  a  man  whom 
nine-tenths  of  them  never  before  heard  of.  This  was  a  terrible 
stroke  to  the  Northern  "democracy  ;"  but  their  necks  were  under 
the  yoke,  and  although  at  first  they  exhibited  strong  symptoms  of 
rebellion,  a  few  smart  pricks  of  the  goad,  and  cracks  of  the  whip, 
brought  them  to  quiet  submission  again,  and  they  have  since 
trudged  along  with  their  burdens,  as  docile  as  ever. 

Pending  these  proceedings,  John  Tyler  had  negotiated  a  treaty, 
April  12,  with  Mr.  Van  Zandt,  the  Texian  Minister,  for  the  an- 
nexation of  Texas  as  "  a  territory  of  the  United  States  ; "  by  which 
the  United  States  "assumed  and  agreed  to  pay  the  public  debts 
and  liabilities  of  Texas,  however  created,  which  were  estimated  not 
to  exceed  TEN  MILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS."* 

Mexico  had  frequently  declared  her  intention  of  subjugating 
Texas  to  her  authority;  and  that  any  attempt  to  annex  that  prov- 
ince to  the  United  States  would  be  regarded  by  her  as  an  act  of 
war.  In  the  letter  of  Mr.  Bocanegra  to  Mr.  Thompson,  dated 
August  23,  1843,  he  said  : 

"  That  the  Mexican  Government  will  consider  equivalent  to  a 
declaration  of  war  against  the  Mexican  Republic,  the  passage  of 
an  act  for  the  incorporation  of  Texas  into  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  — the.  certainty  of  the,  fact  being  sufficient  for  the  im- 
mediate proclamation  of  a  war." 

General  Almonte,  the  Mexican  Minister,  also  gave  notce  to 
Mr.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  State,  that  his  government  would  look 
upon  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  as  an  espousal 
of  the  war  of  the  latter  against  Mexico.  This  was  done  not  as  a 
threat,  but  merely  to  give  notice  of  the  "inevitable  consequence" 
of  such  a  step,  for  he  says : 

*See  article  V.  of  the  treaty  of  annexation. 


«>4  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

J'  And  though  the  undersigned  has  declared,  bv  express  order 
of  his  government,  that  war  will  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  he  certainly  has  not 
done  so  with  the  object  of  intimidating  the  government  of  the 
Honorable  Secretary  of  State,  but  with  the  view  of  showing  how 
far  Mexico  would  carry  her  resistance  to  an  annexation  of  that 
nature." 

But  these  repeated  declarations  were  totally  disregarded  by  this 
government ;  and  on  the  19th  of  April,  1844,  Mr  Calhoun  wrote  a 
letter  to  Benjamin  Green,  American  Charge  at  Mexico,  in  which 
he  says : 

"  It  (the  executive)  has  taken  this  step,  (of  annexation,)  in  full 
view  of  all  possible  consequences." 

While  these  proceedings  were  going  on  in  the  dark  councils 
of  the  Cabinet  at  Washington,  a  large  naval  force  under  Commo- 
dore Conner  was  concentrated  in  the  Gulf,  and  kept  hovering 
along  the  coast  of  Mexico ;  while  a  considerable  military  force 
was  known  to  approach  the  frontiers  of  Texas  and  settle  down  on 
the  banks  of  the  Sabine. 

When  the  bargain  had  been  struck,  it  was  submitted  to  the 
Senate  for  ratification.  That  body  sat  with  closed  doors  during 
their  deliberations.  But  the  overseers  outside  were  unremitting 
in  their  efforts  to  coerce  it  into  a  compliance  with  this  measure. 
Washington  letter  writers  for  the  Northern  press,  also  busied 
themselves  with  strenuous  efforts  to  get  the  excitement  up  to  the 
right  pitch  in  that  quarter,  by  representing,  that  if  Texas  was  not 
secured  now,  it  would  be  lost  forever. 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce, 
under  date  of  March  30,  1844,  says  : 

"General  Henderson  arrived  on  Thursday;  Mr.  Calhoun,  yes- 
terday. The  treaty  of  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States 
will  now  be  negotiated,  and  in  a  short  time  be  laid  before  the 
Senate  for  ratification.  The  national  enthusiasm  of  the  people  of 
Texas,  in  view  of  the  prospect  of  annexation,  is  overwhelming  and 
irrepressible.  If  the  Government  of  the  United  States  postpone 
or  refuse  to  ratify  a  treaty  of  annexation,  the  revulsion  of  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  Texas  will  prove  fatal  to  any  farther  negotiation  on 
this  subject:  —  and  Gen.  Henderson,  as  he  is  believed  to  be  in- 
structed, will  proceed  to  England,  and  negotiate  with  that  govern- 
ment a  commercial  treaty  on  the  basis  of  free  trade,  which  will 
forever  put  at  rest  any  farther  desire  on  the  part  of  the  people  of 
Texas  to  be  annexed  to  the  United  States. 


FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  35 

Texas  will  become  a  great  commercial  depot  for  the  trade  of 
England  and  other  European  powers.  The  commerce  of  Texas, 
Mexico,  and  Central  America,  will  be  lost  to  this  country.  The 
agricultural  interests  of  Texas  will  become  antagonistical  to  the 
agricultural  interests  of  our  Southern  States,  and  in  a  few  years 
Texas  will  raise  every  bale  of  cotton  necessary  for  the  consump- 
tion of  the  English  manufactories.  English  emigration,  English  cap- 
ital, English  commerce,  English  enterprise,  and  English  influence, 
will  overwhelm  and  swallow  up  everything  that  is  American,  and 
estrange  the  people  of  Texas  from  their  loyalty  to  the  United  States. 
WHAT  WILL  THE  SENATE  DO  ?  " 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  writing  from  the 
same  place,  says: 

"  GEN.  HENDERSON,  the  new  minister  from  Texas,  has  a  carte 
blanche,  to  form  a  treaty  of  annexation  with  Texas,  —  to  comply 
with  exactly  such  terms  as  our  government  may  dictate.  He  was 
appointed  by  President  Houston,  in  obedience  to  the  secret  in- 
structions of  the  Texan  Congress  ;  Houston  himself  being  opposed 
to  the  annexation  with  the  United  States,  but  preferring  that  with 
England." 

"  In  case  the  American  government  should  refuse  to  accept  the 
proposition  oCannexation,  then  General  Henderson  is  authorized  to 
proceed  immediately  to  England,  and  to  propose  an  alliance  of  some 
kind  with  that  power,  either  as  a  colony  or  some  other  independent 
shape" 

"  The  question  of  annexation  must  also  be  determined  before  the 
termination  of  the  present  session  of  Congress.  This  is  the  third 
time  which  Texas  has  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  Union  for  admission 
since  1837 ;  and  if  the  treaty  of  annexation  be  refused  now,  the  decis- 
ion is  final  and  fatal,  both  to  Texas  and  to  the  United  States.  IT 
IS  THE  LAST  CHANCE." 

Again,  the  same  writer  unburdens  himself  as  follows; 

WASHINGTON,  March  31,  1844. 

"  First  and  foremost,  in  point  of  irresistible  necessity,  are  the 
affairs  of  Texas.  Her  crisis  is  come.  Her  necessities  are  upon 
her,  not  in  the  future,  but  in  the  present;  she  cannot  wait.  The 
case  is  issued,  the  sheriff's  hand  is  already  upon  the  victim's 
shoulder,  and  the  only  alternatives  are  bail  or  jail." 

"  The  time  now  is  come  when  Texas  must  and  will  either  unite 
with  us,  or  depart  from  us  ;  be  for  us,  or  against  us  ;  come  under  the 
protection  of  the  aegis  of  the  American  Eagle,  or  crouch  beneath 
the  paw  of  the  British  Lion ;  when  her  untold  and  incalculable 
agricultural  arid  commercial  resources  shall  go  to  enrich  either 
these  United  States,  or  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain.  General 
Henderson  is  now  here  with  plenary  powers ;  and  before  he  leaves 
us,  and  before  this  Congress  adjourns,  the  fate  of  Tews  must  be  defi- 
nitely 8tWed.n 


36  PACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

That  all  this  was  a  mere  trick,  a  fly  to  catch  Cabinet  gudgeons 
withal,  we  have  the  testimony  of  Sam  Houston,  at  that  time  Presi- 
dent of  Texas.  In  a  letter,  dated  HUNTSVILLE,  Texas,  July  18, 
1847,  he  quotes  a  paragraph  from  a  letter  of  Ex-President  Tyler, 
published  in  the  Weekly  Union  of  the  12th  ult,  confirmatory  of 
these  rumors,  and  then  says : 

"  It  seems  from  this  position  assumed  by  Mr.  Tyler,  that  he 
either  imagined  the  authorities  of  Texas  were  favorable  to  those 
intrigues,  and  were  willing  to  compromise  her  rights  and  interests 
as  a  nation,  or  that  they  could  not  perceive  the  force  and  effect  of 
the  web  which  was  weaving  around  her  destiny !  Now,  either  in- 
ference would  do  injustice  to  her  character.  '  The  authorities  of 
Texas  had  relied  for  years  upon  a  plain  and  frank  proposition  for 
annexation,  and  had  hoped  to  be  met  by  a  cordial  and  manly  ac- 
ceptance. They  were  disappointed.  Texas  was  treated  with 
coldness,  reserve,  or  palpable  discouragement-  In  this  condition 
of  our  affairs,  common  sense,  without  uncommon  sagacity,  sug- 
gested the  only  feasible  plan  to  attain  the  desired  object,  and  that 
was,  to  excite  jealousy  and  alarm  on  the  part  of  the  politicians 
and  people  of  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  the  future  commer- 
cial and  political  connection  of  Texas  with  European  nations. 
This  was  easily  accomplished,  by  treating  with  silence  all  the 
charges  which  were  made  by  editors  of  various  newspapers  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Chief  Magistrate  of  Texas  was  charged  with  '  treason  ; ' 
selling  Texas  to  England ;  subsidizing  her  to  France ;  and  in  a 
short  time  '  astounding  disclosures '  of  all  these  transactions  would 
take  place !  All  these  charges  remained  uncontradicted  by  the 
journals  of  Texas,  and  the  effect  was  all  that  could  be  desired  ! 
Jealousy  toward  England  and  France  was  awakened.  This  be- 
gat excitement,  which  originated  phantasies  and  conjured  up  na- 
tions of  intrigues,  which  had  existed  only  in  imagination." 

Besides,  there  was  no  danger  that  Texas  would  be  "  annexed  "  to 
Great  Britain,  as  there  existed  no  slave-holding  affinities  between 
the  two  nations. 

The  injunction  of  secresy  was  at  length  removed,  nnd  the  treaty 
with  the  accompanying  documents,  were  published  to  the  world. 
Their  revelations  were  truly  astounding.  The  treaty,  —  some 
notice  of  which  has  already  been  taken, —  defined  no  boundaries 
to  Texas  whatever  ;  but  left  it  to  include  as  much  of  the  Mexican 
territory  as  the  "  contracting  parties  "  could  lay  their  hands  on. 

Accompanying  the  treaty,  was  a  long  correspondence,  carried 
on  since  1842,  between  different  American  Ministers  to  Texas 
and  Secretaries  of  State  of  the  United  States,  in  which  both  had 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  37 

expressed  strong  desires  to  get  speedy  possession  of  Texas,  as  the 
only  means  of  propagating  the  race  of  slave-holders,  and  saving 
the  infernal  system  from  extinction.  Some  extracts  from  these 
extraordinary  documents  are  here  given,  upon  which  the  reader 
can  furnish  his  own  comments.  About  this  time  England  was 
supposed  to  be  exerting  her  influence  to  obtain  the  abolition  of 
elavery  in  Texas. 

On  this  subject,  Mr.  Upsher,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States,  wrote  numerous  letters  to  Mr.  Murphy,  Minister  to  Texas, 
from  which  we  make  extracts.  August  8,  1843,  he  wrote  as 
follows : 

"  A  movement  of  this  kind  cannot  be  contemplated  by  us  in 
silence.  Such  an  attempt  upon  any  neighboring  country  would 
necessarily  be  viewed  with  very  deep  concern ;  but  when  it  is 
made  upon  a  nation  whose  territories  join  the  slave-holding  States 
of  our  Union,  it  awakens  a  still  more  solemn  interest.  It  cannot 
be  permitted  to  succeed,  without  the  most  strenuous  efforts  on  our 

part,  to  arrest  a  calamity  so  serious  to  every  part  of  our  country." 
######## 

"  The  establishment  in  the  very  midst  of  our  slave-holding  Slates, 
of  an  independent  government,  forbidding  the  existence  of  slavery, 
and  by  a  people  born,  for  the  most  part,  among  us,  reared  up  in 
our  habits,  and  speaking  our  language,  could  not  fail  to  produce 
the  most  unhappy  effects  upon  both  parties.  If  Texas  were  in  that 
condition,  her  territory  would  afford  a  refuge  for  the  fugitive  slaves 
of  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  and  would  hold  out  to  them  an  en- 
couragement to  run  away,  which  no  municipal  regulation  of  ours 
could  possibly  counteract." 

"The  States  immediately  interested  would  be  most  likely  to 
take  the  subject  into  their  own  hands.  They  would  perceive  that 
there  could  not  be  any  security  for  that  species  of  property,  if  the 
mere  crossing  of  a  geographical  line  could  give  freedom  to  the 
slave.  Few  calamities  could  befall  this  country  more  to  be  de- 
plored, than  the  establishment  of  a  predominant  British  influence, 
and  the  abolition  of  domestic  slavery  in  Texas." 

Murphy  to  Upsher,  September  23,  1843. 

"  Pardon  me  if  I  am  too  solicitous  on  this  subject.  I  feel  tho 
deep  interest  at  stake.  Our  whole  Southern  interests  are  involved 
in  the  negotiation,  and  with  it  the  interests  of  this  Union  itself. 
The  great  blow  to  our  civil  institutions  is  to  be  struck  here,  and 
it  will  be  a  fatal  blow,  if  not  timely  arrested." 

"England  is  anxious  to  get  rid  of  the  Constitution  of  Texas, 
because  it  secures,  in  the  most  nervous  and  clear  language,  the 
rights  of  the  master  to  the  clave;  and  it  also  prohibits  the  intro- 
3 


38  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

duction  of  slaves  into  Texas  from  any  other  nation  or  quarter  than 
the  United  States." 

"Now  all  the  United  States  has  to  do  is,  to  aid  the  people  of 
Texas  in  sustaining  their  Constitution,  which,  while  it  effectually 
secures  the  rights  of  the  master,  secures  to  the  people  the  bles- 
sings of  civil,  political,  and  religious  liberty. 

On  the  following  day  he  wrote  as  follows : 

"  The  Constitution  of  Texas  secures  to  the  master  the  PERPET- 
UAL RIGHT  TO  HIS  SLAVE,  and  prohibits  the  introduction  of  slaves 
into  Texas  from  any  other  quarter  than  the  United  States." 

"  If  the  United  States  preserves  and  secures  to  Texas  the  pos- 
session of  her  Constitution  and  present  form  of  government,  then 
have  we  gained  all  we  can  desire,  and  also  all  that  Texas  asks  or 
wishes." 

Mr.  Upsher  to  Mr.  Murphy,  September  23,  1843. 

"  So  far  as  this  government  is  concerned,  it  has  every  desire  to 
come  to  the  aid  of  Texas,  in  the  most  prompt  and  effectual  manner. 
How  far  we  shall  be  supported  by  the  people,  I  regret  to  say  is 
somewhat  doubtful.  There  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  there  will  be 
any  difference  of  opinion  among  the  slave-holding  States  ;  and  there 
is  a  large  number  in  the  non-slave-holding,  with  views  sufficiently 
liberal  to  embrace  a  policy  absolutely  necessary  to  the  salvation  of 
the  South,  although,  in  some  respects,  objectionable  to  themselves." 

Mr.  Upsher  to  Mr.  Murphy,  November  21,  1843. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  be  too  watchful  or  too  diligent  in  a  matter 
which  involves  such  momentous  consequences,  not  only  to  our 
country,  but  to  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  view  which  the 
government  takes  of  it,  excludes  every  idea  of  mere  sectional  in- 
terest. We  regard  it  as  involving  the  security  of  the  South  ;  and 
the  strength  and  prosperity  of  every  part  of  the  Union." 

Upsher  to  Murphy,  January  16,  1844. 

"  But  this  is  not  all.  If  Texas  should  refuse  to  come  into  our 
Union,  measures  will  instantly  be  taken  to  fill  her  territory  with 
emigrants  from  Europe.  Extensive  arrangements  for  this  have 
already  been  made,  and  they  will  be  carried  into  effect  as  soon  as 
the  decision  of  Texas  shall  be  known." 

"  But  the  first  measure  of  the  new  emigrants,  as  soon  as  they 
shall  have  sufficient  strength,  will  be,  to  destroy  that  grand  domes- 
He  institution,  upon  which  so  much  of  the  prosperity  of  our  fron- 
tier country  depends.  To  this,  England  will  stimulate  them,  and 
she  will  also  furnish  the  means  of  accomplishing  it.  I  have  com- 
mented upon  this  topic  in  a  despatch  to  Mr.  Everett.  I  will  add, 
that  if  Texas  should  not  be  attached  to  the  United  States,  she  cannot 
maintain  that  institution  ten  years,  and  probably  not  half  that  time" 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  »} 

About  this  time,  Great  Britain  was  cautioned  against  thrusting 
in  any  of  her  anti-slavery  interference  in  this  matter,  on  this  wise  : 

Mr.  Calhoun  to  Mr.  Packeriham,  British  Minister,  April  18,  1844. 

"  It  is  with  still  deeper  concern  that  the  President  regards  the 
avowal  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  of  the  desire  of  Great  Britain  to  see 
slavery  abolished  in  Texas;  and,  as  he  infers,  is  endeavoring, 
through  her  diplomacy,  to  accomplish  it  by  making  the  abolition 
of  slavery  one  of  the  conditions  on  which  Mexico  should  acknowl- 
edge her  independence.  Under  this  conviction,  it  is  felt  to  be 
the  imperious  duty  of  the  Federal  Government,  the  common  repre- 
sentative and  protector  of  these  States  of  the  Union,  to  adopt,  in 
self-defence,  the  most  effectual  measures  to  defeat  it." 

Calhoun  to  Packenham,  April  27,  1844. 

"  The  United  States,  in  concluding  the  treaty  of  annexation 
with  Texas,  are  not  disposed  to  shun  any  responsibility  which  may 
fairly  attach  to  them  on  account  of  the  transaction.  The  meas- 
ure was  adopted  by  the  mutual  consent,  and  for  the  mutual  and 
permanent  welfare  of  the  two  countries  interested.  It  was  made 
necessary,  in  order  to  preserve  domestic  institutions,  placed  under 
the  guaranty  of  their  respective  constitutions,  and  deemed  essen- 
tial to  their  safety  and  prosperity." 

These  official  papers  show,  beyond  a  cavil,  what  the  design 
of  the  government  was  in  annexing  Texas,  and  that  it  had  deter- 
mined to  push  this  design  to  its  accomplishment,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences. 

The  Senate  also  called  on  the  Executive  for  the  orders,  if  any, 
which  had  been  given  to  the  military  and  naval  commanders  here- 
tofore alluded  to.  In  communicating  to  the  Senate,  the  orders 
which  he  had  given  to  General  Taylor  and  Commodore  Conner, 
the  President  says: 

"  I  have  to  inform  the  Senate  that,  in  consequence  of  the  dec- 
laration of  Mexico  communicated  to  this  government,  and  by  me 
laid  before  Congress  at  the  opening  of  its  present  session,  an- 
nouncing the  determination  of  Mexico  to  regard  as  a  declaration 
of  war  against  her  by  the  United  States  the  definitive  ratification  of 
any  treaty  with  Texas  annexing  the  territory  of  that  republic  to 
the  United  States,  and  the  hope  and  belief  entertained  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive that  the  treaty  with  Texas  for  that  purpose  would  be 
speedily  approved  and  ratified  by  the  Senate,  it  was  regarded  by 
the  Executive  to  have  become  emphatically  its  duty  to  concen- 
trate, in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  its  vicinity,  as  a  precautionary  meas- 
ure, as  large  a  portion  of  the  home  squadron,  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Conner,  as  could  well  be  drawn  together;  and,  at  the 


40  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

same  time,  to  assemble  at  Fort  Jesup,  on  the  borders  of  Texas, 
as  large  a  military  force  as  the  demands  of.  the  service  at  other 
encampments  would  authorize  to  be  detached."* 

In  the  very  midst  of  these  warlike  demonstrations  the  President 
was  making  loud  professions  of  friendship,  and  an  earnest  desire 
to  preserve  the  friendly  relations  existing  between  the  two  repub- 
lics. In  the  message  accompanying  the  treaty,  he  says  : 

"To  Mexico,  the  Executive  is  disposed  to  pursue  a  course  con- 
ciliatory in  its  character,  and  at  the  same  time  to  render  her  the 
most  ample  justice,  by  conventions  and  stipulations  not  inconsis- 
tent with  the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  government." 

The  course  which  he  had  pursued  so  far,  was  about  as  "concili- 
atory in  its  character"  as  that  of  the  highwayman,  who,  with  a 
pistol  at  the  throat  of  his  victim,  commands  him  to  "  deliver  or 
die."  And,  after  plundering  her  of  her  possessions,  he  had  pre- 
pared "  to  render  her  the  most  ample  justice  "  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon. 

That  Tyler  knew  that  a  state  of  war  at  that  time  existed  be- 
tween Mexico  and  Texas,  and  that  he  was  endeavoring  to  involve 
this  nation  in  that  war,  by  espousing  the  quarrel  of  the  latter,  we 
have  his  own  confession;  a  little  farther  on  in  the  same  message, 
he  says : 

"It,  (the  Executive,)  has  made  known  to  Mexico,  at  several  pe- 
riods, its  extreme  anxiety  to  witness  the  termination  of  hostilities 
between  that  country  and  Texas." 

"The  war  which  has  been  waged  for  eight  years,  has  resulted 
only  in  the  conviction,  with  all  other  than  herself,  that  Texas  can- 
not be  re-conquered.  I  cannot  but  repeat  the  opinion  expressed 
in  my  message  at  the  opening  of  Congress,  that  it  is  time  it  had 
ceased." 

A  plain  spoken  man  might  also  say,  that  he  knew  he  was  lying 
when  he  said,  "  that  Texas  cannot  be  re-conquered  ; "  for  he  im- 
mediately goes  on : 

"  1  repeat,  the  Executive  saw  Texas  in  a  state  of  almost  hopeltss 
exhaustion,  and  the  question  was  narrowed  down  to  the  simple 
proposition,  whether  the  United  States  should  accept  the  boon  of 
annexation  upon  fair  and  even  liberal  terms,  or,  by  refusing  to  do 
so,  force  Texas  to  seek  REFUGE  in  the  arms  of  some  other  power." 

Although  Thomas  H.  Bcnton  of  Missouri,  was  deeply  anxious 
to  get  possession  of  Texas,  as  we  have  already  shown,  he  had  not 

*  Message  to  the  Senate,  May  15,  1844, 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  41 

the  assurance  to  claim  the  Rio  del  Norte  as  its  western  boun- 
dary. He  well  knew  that  such  a  claim  was  a  gross  outrage  on  the 
rights  of  Mexico ;  that  it  was  an  attempt  to  rob  her  of  an  immense 
tract  of  her  territory,  including  large  portions  of  four  distinct 
States,  in  addition  to  Texas,  and  he  had  the  honesty  and  manliness 
to  avow  it.  In  a  letter  to  the  Texan  Congress,  dated  April  30, 
1844,  he  says: 

"  Of  course,  I,  who  consider  what  I  am  about,  always  speak  of 
Texas  as  constituted  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  1819,  and  not  as 
constituted  by  the  Republic  of  Texas,  comprehending  the  capital 
and  forty  towns  and  villages  of  New  Mexico!  now  and  always  as 
fully  under  the  dominion  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  as  Quebec 
and  all  the  towns  and  villages  of  Canada  are  under  the  dominion 
of  Great  Britain!" 

In  his  masterly  speech  on  the  treaty,  May  6th,  1844,  he  eaid: 

"  Let  us  pause  and  look  at  our  new  and  important  proposed 
acquisitions  in  this  quarter.  First:  there  is  the  department, 
formerly  the^  province  of  New  Mexico,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the 
river,  from  its  head  spring  to  near  the  Passo  del  Norte ;  that  is  to 
say,  halfway  down  the  river.  .-This  department  is  studded  with 
towns  and  villages  ;  is  populated,  well  cultivated,  and  covered  with 
flocks  and  herds.  On  its  left  bank,  (for  I  only  speak  of  the  part 
which  we  propose  to  re-annex,)  is,  first,  the  frontier  village,  Taos, 
3000  souls,  and  where  the  custom-house  is  kept,  at  which  the  Mis- 
souri caravans  enter  their  goods.  Then  comes  Santa  Fe,  the  cap- 
ital, 4000  souls  ;  then  Albuqurque,  COOO  souls  ;  then  comes  scores 
of  other  towns  and  villages,  all  more  or  less  populated,  and  sur- 
rounded by  flocks  and  fields.  Then  comes  the  departments  of 
Chihuahua,  Coahuila  and  Tamaulipas,  without  settlements  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river,  but  occupy  ing  the  right  bank,  and  command- 
ing the  left.  All  this  —  being  parts  of  four  Mexican  departments, 
now  under  Mexican  Governors  and  Governments  —  is  permanently 
re-annexed  to  this  Union  if  this  treaty  is  ratified,  and  is  actually 
re-annexed  from  the  moment  of  the  signature  of  the  treaty,  accord- 
ing to  the  President's  last  message,  to  remain  so  until  the  acquisition 
is  rejected  by  rejecting  the  treaty  !  The  one-half  of  the  depart- 
ment of  New  Mexico,  with  its  capital,  becomes  a  Territory  of  the 
United  States;  an  angle  of  Chihuahua,  at  the  Passo  del  Norte,  fa- 
mous for  its  wine,  also  becomes  ours;  a  part  of  the  department  of 
Coahuila,  not  populated  on  the  left  bank,  which  we  take,  but  com- 
manded from  the  right  bank  by  Mexican  authorities ;  the  same  of 
Tamaulipas,  the  ancient  Nuevo  San  Tander,  (New  St.  Andrew,) 
and  which  covers  both  sides  of  the  river  from  its  mouth  for  some 
hundred  miles  up,  and  all  the  left  bank  of  which  is  in  the  power 
and  possession  of  Mexico.  These,  in  addition  to  the  old  Texas, 
theso  parts  of  four  States,  these  towns  and  villages,  these  people 
3* 


42  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

and  territory,  these  flocks  and  herds,  this  slice  of  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  two  thousand  miles  long  and  some  hundred  broad,  —  all 
this  our  President  has  cut  off  from  its  mother  empire,  and  presents 
to  us,  and  declares  it  is  ours  till  the  Senate  rejects  it!  He  calls  it 
Texas!  and  the  cutting  off  he  calls  re-annexation!  Humholdt 
calls  it  New  Mexico,  Chihuahua,  Coahuila,  and  Nuevo  San  Tan- 
der,  (now  Tamaulipas ;)  and  the  civilized  world  may  qualify  this 
re-annexation  by  the  application  of  some  odious  and  terrible  epi- 
thet. Demosthenes  advised  the  people  of  Athens  not  to  take,  but 
to  re-take  a  certain  city ;  and  in  that  re-laid  the  virtue  which  saved 
the  act  from  the  character  of  spoliation  and  robbery.  Will  it  be 
equally  potent  with  us?  and  will  the  're,'  prefixed  to  the  annexa- 
tion, legitimate  the  seizure  of  two  thousand  miles  of  a  neighbor's 
dominion,  with  whom  we  have  treaties  of  peace,  and  friendship, 
and  commerce  ?  Will  it  legitimate  this  seizure,  made  by  virtue 
of  a  treaty  with  Texas,  when  no  Texan  force  —  witness  the  disas- 
trous expeditions  to  Mier  and  to  Santa  Fe  —  have  been  seen  near 
it  without  being  killed  or  taken,  to  the  last  man  ?" 

"  I  wash  my  hands  of  all  attempts  to  dismember  the  Mexican  Re- 
public, fy  seizing  her    dominions  in    New  Mexico,   Chihuahua,' 
Coahuila  and  Tamaulipas.     The  treaty,  IN  ALL  THAT  RELATES 

TO  THE  BOUNDARY  OF  THE  RlO  GRANDE,  IS  AN  ACT  OF  UNPAR- 
ALLELED OUTRAGE  ON  MEXICO.  IT  IS  THE  SEIZURE  OF  TWO 

THOUSAND  MILES  OF  HER  TERRITORY,  without  a  word  of  explana- 
tion with  her,  and  by  virtue  of  a  treaty  with  Texas,  to  which  she 
is  no  party.  Our  Secretary  of  State,  in  his  letter'  to  the  United 
States  Charge  in  Mexico,  and  seven  days  after  the  treaty  was 
signed,  and  after  the  Mexican  minister  had  withdrawn  from  our 
seat  of  government,  shows  full  well  that  he  was  conscious  of  THE 
ENORMITY  OF  THIS  OUTRAGE  ;  knew  it  was  war ;  and  proffered 
volunteer  apologies  to  avert  the  consequences  which  he  knew  he 
had  provoked." 

"  By  this  declaration,  the  thirty  thousand  Mexicans  in  the  left 
half  of  the  valley  of  the  Rio  del  Norte  are  our  citizens,  and  stand- 
ing, in  the  language  of  the  President's  Message,  in  a  hostile  atti- 
tude towards  us,  and  subject  to  be  repelled  as  invaders.  Taos, 
the  seat  of  the  custom-house,  where  our  caravans  enter  their  goods, 
is  ours  ;  Santa  Fe,  the  capital  of  New  Mexico,  is  ours  ;  Governor 
Armijo  is  our  Governor,  and  subject  to  be  tried  for  treason  if  he 
does  not  submit  to  us ;  twenty  Mexican  towns  and  villages  are 
ours  ;  and  their  peaceful  inhabitants,  cultivating  their  fields  and 
tending  their  flocks,  are  suddenly  converted,  by  a  stroke  of  the 
President's  pen,  into  American  citizens,  or  American  rebels." 
######## 

"  I  therefore  propose,  as  an  additional  resolution,  applicable  to 
the  Rio  del  Norte  boundary  only,  the  one  which  1  will  read  and 
send  to  the  Secretary's  table,  and  on  which  at  the  proper  time,  I 
shall  ask  the  vote  of  the  Senate.  This  is  the  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  incorporation  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  del 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  43 

JVbrle  into  the  •American  Union,  by  virtue  of  a  treaty  ivith  Texas •, 
comprehending,  as  the  said  incorporation  would  do,  a  part  of  the 
Mexican  departments  of  New  Mexico,  Chihuahua,  Coahuila  and 
Tamaulipas,  ivould  be  AN  ACT  OF  DIRECT  AGGRESSION  ON  MEXICO  ; 
for  all  the  consequences  of  which  the  United  States  would  stand 
responsible." 

After  a  long  and  animated  discussion,  notwithstanding  the 
strenuous  efforts  of  the  slave-breeders  to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe, 
the  treaty  was  rejected  by  a  decisive  majority  ;  and  there  the  mat- 
ter rested  with  the  Government  until  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
which  was  only  five  or  six  months  in  the  future.  Every  moment 
of  this  time  was  occupied  with  the  most  incessant  and  systematic 
drilling  by  the  conspirators.  Meetings  were  held  in  various  sec- 
tions of  the  South,  in  favor  of  immediate  annexation,  at  which  it 
was  bravely  determined  to  dissolve  the  Union,  if  that  measure  was 
not  speedily  accomplished.  The  following  are  specimens  of 
"democratic"  sentiments,  given  at  public  political  dinners  in 
South  Carolina. 

"  M  Three  Mile  Creek,  Barnwdl  District,  by  C.  C.  H AY  :  The  re- 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States :  We  will  obtain  it 
'peaceably  if  we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must.' 

By  Jos.*G.  W.  VV.  DUNCAN  :  A  just  reduction  of  the  tariff;  the 
noise  of  abolition  silenced;  Texas  or  disunion;  and  such  legis- 
lation as  will  in  future  secure  the  homestead  of  every  family  — 
Polk  and  Dallas  our  Presidents. 

M  Piedmont,  Sumter  District,  by  H.  E.  L.PEEBLES  :  The  annex- 
ation of  Texas  —  a  measure  beneficial  to  the  whole  Union,  but 
essential  to  the  safety  of  the  South  —  at  the  next  session  of  Con- 
gress, ice  demand  Texas  or  disunion. 

Jit  Walterborough.  '  Annexation  : '  The  great  measure  of  deliv- 
erance and  liberty  to  the  South ;  with  it  we  are  Unionists  ;  with- 
out it  we  are  disunionists,  though  the  fate  of  traitors  be  our  doom, 
(Nine  times  nine  cheers.) 

Ai  Orangeburg  Court-House,  by  Gen.  D.  F.  JAMISON:  The 
Union  and  Texas,  or  Texas  and  disunion  — Let  the  opponents  of 
this  great  American  measure  accept  the  alternative. 

By  Mr.  JOHN  GOALSON:  Texas  and  South  Carolina  forever. 

By  Lieut.  JOHN  C.  ROWE.  The  annexation  of  Texas  — peace- 
ably if  we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must." 

Although  similar  sentiments  were  as  courageously  uttered 
throughout  the  South,  we  will  not,  burden  the  reader  by  inserting 
more  ;  but  add  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Benton  to  this  point. 

In  a  speech  of  Thomas  H.  Benton  at  Boonville,  Ky.,  in  1844,  pub- 


44  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

lished  in  the  Boonville  Union,  as  written  out  by  himself,  he  pre- 
sented it  as  "  the  design  of  the  Texas  treaty,  not  to  get  Texas 
into  the  Union,  but  to  get  the  Southern  States  out  of  it;  and 
showed  that  the  whole  treaty,  and  all  the  correspondence  relating 
to  it,  was  studiously  and  artfully  contrived  for  this  purpose." 

"To  present  the  acquisition  of  Texas  as  Southern,  sectional, 
slave-holding  question,  wholly  directed  to  the  extension,  perpetu- 
ation, and  predominance  of  slavery,  was  its  express  and  avowed 
object." 

"  Disunion,  as  a  consequence  of  non-annexation,  was  proclaimed 
in  hundreds  of  resolutions.  Measures  were  openly -concocted  for 
carrying  the  resolutions  into  effect.  Members  of  Congress  from 
the  Southern  States  were  invited  to  act  together;  communications 
with  the  Texan  Ministers  were  recommended  to  be  opened ;  all 
the  slave  States  were  to  be  roused  and  excited  ;  and  to  crown  the 
scheme,  a  Hartford  Convention,  under  the  pretext  of  a  Southern 
Texas  Convention,  was  proposed  to  be  held  at  Nashville." 

In  a  speech,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in 
1844,  Mr.  Benton  said  : 

"  I  have  often  intimated  before,  but  now  proclaim  it,  disunion 
is  at  the  bottom  of  this  long-concealed  Texas  machination.  In- 
trigue and  speculation  co-operate,  but  disunion  is  at  the  bottom  ; 
and  I  denounce  it  to  the  American  people." 

We  have  clearly  shown,  that  the  sole  object  of  the  slave-holders 
in  the  acquisition  of  Texas,  (and  we  shall  soon  show  that  they 
never  meant  to  be  content  with  barely  getting  that,)  was,  to  add 
new  securities  to  their  infernal  system.  As  the  treaty-making  power 
had  stood  in  the  way  of  the  immediate  accomplishment  of  this 
scheme,  the  first  step  taken  was,  an  open,  undisguised  and  suc- 
cessful attempt  to  over-ride  and  trample  it  under  foot.  Almost 
simultaneously,  "Joint  Resolves"  were  introduced  into  both 
houses  of  Congress,  for  the  annexation  of  Texas.  Thus  doing  by 
bare  majority,  what,  if  done  at  all,  could  only  be  done  constitu- 
tionally, by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate.  But  is  it  strange 
that  they  who  make  merchandize  of  their  fellow-men,  turning  them 
into  goods  and  chattels,  should  be  unrestrained  by  the  forms  of 
law  ?  On  the  10th  of  December,  1844,  George  McDuffie  of  South 
Carolina,  introduced  to  the  Senate  joint  resolutions  for  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas. 

The  day  after  the  introduction  of  McDuffie's  resolution  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  llth  of  December,  Mr.  Benton  of  Missouri,  who 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  45 

knew  that  the  adoption  of  that  resolve  would  involve  the  country 
in  a  war  with  Mexico,  and  wishing  to  avert  such  a  calamity,  in- 
troduced his  counter  project,  in  the  shape  of  a  bill  to  provide  for 
the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  three  sections  of 
which  are  as  follows: 

u  L  The  boundary  of  the  annexed  territory  to  be  in  the  desert 
prairie  west  of  the  Nueces,  and  along  the  highlands  and  moun- 
tain heights  which  divide  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  from  the 
waters  of  the  Rio  del  Norte,  and  to  latitude  forty-two  degrees 
north. 

V.  The  existence  of  slavery  to  be  forever  prohibited  in  the 
northern  and  north-western  part  of  said  territory,  west  of  the  100th 
degree  of  longitude  west  from  Greenwich,  so  as  to  divide,  as 
equally  as  may   be,  the  whole  of  the  annexed  country  between 
slave-holding  and  non-slave-holding  States. 

VI.  The  assent  of  Mexico  to  be  obtained  by  treaty  to  such  an- 
nexation and  boundary,  or  to  be  dispensed  with  when  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  may  deem  such  assent  to  be  unnec- 
essary." 

But  this  plan  of  Benton's  was  altogether  too  peaceful ;  it  was 
not  aggressive  enough.  It  gave  the  slave-holders  nothing  but 
Texas,  with  the  consent  of  Mexico ;  while  they  had  long  been 
determined  to  have  not  only  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  California, 
but  as  much  more  of  that  republic  as  they  could  get,  without  her 
consent.  War  may  not  have  been  their  primary  object ;  it  proba- 
bly was  not;  but  they  did  not  care  to  avoid  it,  they  rather  courted 
it;  for  they  had  firmly  resolved  to  take  possession  of  Texas,  and 
as  much  more  of  Mexico  as  they  wanted,  peacefully  if  she  did  not 
resist,  but  forcibly  if  she  did.  The  Mexican  Minister  had  repeat- 
edly warned  this  government,  that  the  annexation  of  Texas  would 
be  regarded  by  his  government  as  a  declaration  of  war;  which 
was  a  very  welcome  announcement  to  the  slave-breeders,  as  fur- 
Dishing  a  grand  pretext  for  plundering  Mexico  of  her  territory. 

Neither  did  these  resolves  or  this  bill  go  far  enough;  nor  did 
the  treaty.  They  only  provided  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  as  a 
territory;  and  a  territory  could  not  vote;  and  slave  votes  were 
wanted  in  Congress,  as  well  as  more  slave  territory  in  the  nation  ; 
and  neither  John  Tyler  nr:r  McDufFie  had  made  any  provisions 
for  the  votes,  nor  had  Calhoun.  And  after  various  modifications 
and  amendments  had  been  offered  and  rejected,  Milton  Brown  of 
Tenne.efl-3o  presented  a  u  Joint  Resolution  "  in  the  House,  whick 


46  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

was  adopted  Jan.  25,  1845,  "  declaring  the  terms  on  which  Con- 
gress will  admit  Texas,  as  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union  ;"  the 
first  of  which  is  as  follows  : 

"  Be  it  resolved,  That  Congress  doth  consent  that  the  territory 
properly  included  with,  and  rightfully  belonging  to  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  may  be  erected  into  a  new  State  to  be  called  the  State 
of  Texas,  with  a  republican  form  of  government  to  be  adopted  by 
the  people  of  said  Republic,  by  deputies  in  convention,  assembled 
with  the  consent  of  the  existing  government,  in  order  that  the 
same  may  be  admitted  as  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union. 

And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  foregoing  consent  of  Con- 
gress is  given  upon  the  following  conditions,  and  with  the  follow- 
ing guaranties,  to  wit: 

1.  Said  State  to  be  formed  subject  to  the  adjustment  by  this 
government  of  all  questions  of  boundary  that  may  arise  with  other 
governments  ;  and  that  the  constitution  thereof,  with  the  proper 
evidence  of  its  adoption  by  the  Republic  of  Texas,  shall  be  trans- 
milted  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  be  laid  before 
Congress  for  its  final  action,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  January, 
1846." 

The  Texians,  nothing  loth,  made  haste  to  accept  this  offer. 
Their  '  republican  form  of  government?  was  already  established, 
and  the  constitution  thereof,  with  the  proper  evidence  of  its  adop- 
tion by  the  people,  was  all  ready  to  be  sent  to  Congress,  to  be  rati- 
fied by  that  body  as  soon  as  it  had  come  together.  To  satisfy  the 
reader  that  this  instrument  was  all  that  even  a  slave-holding  Con- 
gress could  desire,  we  here  give  two  sections  of  the 

TEXAS  CONSTITUTION. 

'  SEC.  9.  All  persons  of  color,  who  were  slaves  for  life  previous 
to  their  emigration  to  Texas,  and  who  are  now  held  in  bondage, 
shall  remain  in  the  like  state  of  servitude,  provided  the  said  slave 
shall  be  the  bona  fide  property  of  the  person  so  holding  said  slave  as 
aforesaid;  Congress  shall  pass  no  laws  to  prohibit  emigrants  from  the 
United  States  of  America  from  bringing  their  slaves  into  the 
Republic  ivith  them,  and  holding  them  by  the  same  tenure  by  which 
such  slaves  were  held  in  the  United  States ;  nor  shall  Congress 
have  the  power  to  emancipate  his  or  her  slave  or  slaves ;  nor  shall 
any  slave-holder  be  allowed  to  emancipate,  his  or  her  slave  or  slaves, 
without  the  consent  of  Congress,  unless  he  or  she  shall  send  his 
or  her  slave  or  slaves  without  the  limits  of  the  republic.  No  free 
person  of  African  descent,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  reside  permanently  in  the  republic,  without  the  consent  of 
Congress;  and  the  importation  or  admission  of  African  negroes 
into  this  republic,  excepting  from  the  United  States  of  America,  is 
forever  prohibited,  and  declared  to  be  piracy. 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  47 

SEC.  10.  All  persons,  (Africans  and  the  descendants  of  Africans, 
and  Indians  excepted,)  who  were  residing  in  Texas  on  the  day  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  [a  great  portion  of  the  native 
Mexican  citizens  are  of  course  excluded,]  shall  be  considered  citi- 
zens of  the  republic,  and  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  such.' 

Soon  after  the  assembling  of  Congress  in  December,  1845,  the 
subject  of  admitting  Texas  as  a  State  of  the  Union  became  the 
absorbing  question  in  the  deliberations  of  that  body.  Another 
"Joint  Resolution  for  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  American 
Union,"  was  read  on  the  16th.  Mr.  McConnell  of  Alabama, 
moved  the  previous  question,  thus  gagging  the  feeble  opposition 
that  might  have  been  made,  and  the  resolves  were  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  141  to  56.  They  were  then  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  adopted 
in  that  body  on  the  22d  of  December,  by  a  vote  of  31  to  13.  They 
soon  received  the  signature  of  the  President,  and  this  step  in  the 
proceedings  was  accomplished.  The  next  was  to  commemce  hos- 
tilities upon  Mexico,  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  her  of  New  Mexi- 
co, California,  and  the  adjacent  countries  ;  for  as  yet,  although  she 
had  withdrawn  her  Minister  from  this  country,  she  had  made  no 
other  hostile  demonstrations  ;  not  even  upon  Texas. 

The  government  of  this  country,  which  was  forever  whining  and 
carping  about  the  "  grasping  ambition  of  England,"  had  long  had 
an  "  evil  eye"  towards  these  possessions  of  its  neighbor,  and  Cap- 
tain Fremont  had  already  been  engaged  for  several  years  past  on  a 
military  "exploring  expedition  "  in  the  upper  provinces  of  Mexico, 
brilliant  reports  of  which  he  had  from  time  to  time  communicated 
to  Congress.*  So  that  the  plan  of  operations  in  that  quarter  was 
doubtless  already  fully  digested. 

To  those  who  are  so  ignorant  of  the  character  of  this  govern- 
ment as  to  suppose  that  the  refusal  of  Mexico  to  make  indemnity 
for  spoliations  on  American  commerce  was  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  war,  it  may  be  necessary  to  make  a  few  explanations.  That 
Mexico  had  acknowledged  the  justice  of  the  claims,  and  was  doing* 
the  best  she  could  to  liquidate  them,  as  fast  as  they  were  adjudi- 
cated, until  the  Americans  made  war  upon  her,  we  have  the  con- 
fession of  both  Tyler  and  Polk.  In  President  Tyler's  Message 
of  December,  1843,  he  says: 

"  The  instalments  on  the  claims  recently  settled  by  the  Conven- 
*  House  Doc.  166,  29ih  Congress. 


4B  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

tion  with  Mexico,  have  been  punctually  paid  us  they  have  fallen 
due,  and  our  Minister  is  engaged  in  urging  the  establishment  of 
a  new  commission  in  pursuance  of  the  Convention  for  the  settle- 
ment of  unadjusted  claims." 

In  the  annual  message  of  Mr.  Polk,  of  1845,  he  says  : 

"The  interest  due  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  April,  1843,  and  the 
first  three  of  twenty  instalments  have  been  paid." 

"  The  claims  which  were  left  undecided  by  the  joint  commis- 
sion, amounting  to  more  than  $3,000,000,  together  with  other 
claims  for  spoliations  on  the  property,  of  our  citizens,  were  subse- 
quently presented  to  the  Mexican  Government  for  payment,  and 
were  so  far  recognized,  that  a  treaty,  providing  for  their  examina- 
tion and  settlement  by  a  joint  commission,  was  concluded  and 
signed  at  Mexico,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  November,  1843." 

The  reader  is  requested  not  to  forget,  that  this  James  K.  Poll\? 
who  in  one  breath  charges  the  Mexicans  with  want  of  faith  in 
refusing  to  pay  their  debts,  and  in  the  next  takes  it  all  back  by 
admitting  that  they  do  pay  them  as  fast  as  they  are  able,  —  is  the 
President  of  repudiating  States ;  and  that  he  is  the  same  James 
K.  Polk,  who,  no  longer  ago  than  August  8,  J846,  vetoed  a  bill 
for  the  payment  of  claims  due  from  the  government  of  the  United 
States  to  many  of  her  citizens,  on  account  of  French  spoliations. 

The  army  under  General  Taylor,  which  at  the  commencement 
of  the  negotiations  was  located  on  the  Sabine,  had  long  since 
been  moved  to  the  extreme  frontiers  of  Texas,  and  posted  at  Cor- 
pus Christi  on  the  west  bank  of  the  River  Nueces,  in  the  state  of 
Tamaulipas,  where  the  Texians  had  established  a  custom-house. 
There  it  remained,  watching  the  progress  of  events,  waiting  for 
further  developernents  and  further  orders.  During  this  period  it 
was  called  "  the  army  of  occupation"  Although  this  army  had 
actually  invaded  Mexico  by  entering  Tamaulipas,  the  Mexicans 
had  thus  far  forborne  to  make  any  resistance. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  of  instruction  to  General 
Taylor,  from  the  war  department,  will  throw  some  light  on  his 
position  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  July  8,  1845. 

SIR:  This  department  is  informed  that  Mexico  has  some  mili- 
tary establishments  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  are, 
and  for  some  time  have  been,  in  the  actual  occupancy  of  her  troops. 
In  carrying  out  the  instructions  heretofore  received,  you  wilt  be 
careful  to  avoid  any  acts  of  aggression  unless  an  actual  state  of  war 


PACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  49 

should  exist.  The  Mexican  forces  at  the  posts  in  their  possession, 
and  which  have  been  so,  will  not  be  disturbed  so  Zong*  a*  the  rela- 
tions of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  continue. 

WM.  L.  MARCY. 
Brig.  Gen.  Z.  Taylor." 

On  the  30th  of  same  month,  he  writes  as  follows: 

"  The  Rio  Grande  is  claimed  to  be  the  boundary  between  the 
two  countries,  and  up  to  this  boundary  you  are  to  extend  your 
protection,  only  excepting  any  posts  on  the  eastern  side  thereof, 
which  are  in  the  actual  occupancy  of  Mexican  forces,  or  Mexican 
settlements  over  which  the  Republic  of  Texas  did  not  exercise 
jurisdiction  at  the  period  of  annexation,  or  shortly  before  that 
event." 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  claimed  as 
the  western  boundary  of  Texas,  and  also  the  fallacy  of  that  claim. 
Here,  the  Secretary  of  War  plainly  admits  that  the  country  to 
the  east  of  that  river  is  in  the  occupancy  of  the  Mexicans.  That 
they  have  "  posts,"  "  forces,"  and  "  settlements  "  there.  And  yet 
General  Taylor  is  instructed  by  the  War  Department,  "not  to  dis- 
turb them."  What  is  this  but  an  admission  that  this  territory  be- 
longed to  Mexico?  It  is  true  that  in  1836  the  Texan  Congress 
resolved  that  their  western  boundary  was  the  Rio  Grande.  Sup- 
pose that  the  legislature  of  New  York  had  at  the  same  time  re- 
solved that  their  eastern  boundary  was  the  Connecticut  river,  and 
should  send  a  gang  of  marauders  to  Northampton,  and  another  to 
Hartford,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  possession  of  the  country,  and 
they  should  be  all  captured,  hand-cuffed,  and  marched  off  to  jail  j 
why,  according  to  the  logic  of  certain  American  Statesmen,  that 
would  entitle  New  York  to  the  whole  of  Vermont,  a  large  portion 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  biggest  half  of  Connecticut.  These 
men  knew  full  well  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  not  the  boundary 
between  Texas  and  Mexico,  and  they  dared  not  all  at  once  as- 
sume it  as  such  ;  else,  why  suffer  those  foreign  "  military  estab- 
lishments," to  remain  unmolested  ? 

"  If  the  territory  was  ours,  those  would  and  should  have  been 
the  first  and  only  objects  of  attack.  What!  foreign  fortresses 
and  forces  on  American  soil,  and  American  soldiers  ordered  by 
an  American  President  not  to  molest  them!  What  did  this 
mean?  It  meant  that  the  territory  was  not  ours.  It  meant  inva- 
sion, war,  and  a  NEW  CONQUEST,  accompanied  by  the  aggravating 
circumstance  of  pretending  that  it  was  peace !  " 
4 


50  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

While  the  American  troops  were  located  at  Corpus  Christf, 
various  reports  were  circulated  through  the  country,  of  Mexican 
preparations  to  invade  Texas.  The  following  extracts  from  vari- 
ous official  despatches  of  General  Taylor  to  the  war  department, 
will  enable  the  reader  to  set  a  proper  value  upon  these  rumors. 
These  letters  are  all  dated  at  Corpus  Christi. 

August  15,  1845,  he  writes  as  follows : 

"  Nor  do  I  fear  that  the  reported  concentration  of  troops  at  Mat- 
amoras  is  for  any  purpose  of  invasion." 

August  20,  he  writes  : 

"Caravans  of  traders  arrive  occasionally  from  the  Rio  Grande, 
but  bring  no  news  of  importance.  They  represent  that  there  are 
no  regular  troops  on  that  river,  except  at  Matamoras,  and  do  not 
8£em  to  be  aware  of  any  preparations  for  a  demonstration  on  this 
bank  of  the  river." 

September  6,  he  writes  : 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  a  confidential  agent  despatched 
some  days  since  to  Matamoras,  has  returned,  and  reports  that  no 
extraordinary  preparations  are  going  forward  there." 

October  4,  1845,  General  Taylor  writes  : 

"  Mexico  having  as  yet  made  no  positive  declaration  of  war,  or 
committed  any  overt  act  of  hostilities,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty,  un- 
der my  instructions,  particularly  those  of  July  8th,  to  make  a  for- 
ward movement  to  the  Rio  Grande,  without  authority  from  the 
War  Department." 

October  11,  he  says: 

"  Recent  arrivals  from  the  Rio  Grande  bring  no  news  of  a 
different  aspect  from  what  I  reported  in  my  last." 

January  7,  1846,  he  writes : 

"  A  recent  scout  of  volunteers  from  San  Antonio,  struck  the 
river  near  Presidio,  Rio  Grande,  and  the  commander  reports  every- 
thing quiet  in  that  quarter." 

February  16,  he  writes  : 

"  Many  reports  will  doubtless  reach  the  department,  giving 
exaggerated  accounts  of  Mexican  preparations  to  resist  our  ad- 
vance, if  not  indeed  to  attempt  an  invasion  of  Texas.  Such 
reports  have  been  circulated  even  at  this  place,  and  owe  their 
origin  to  personal  interests  connected  with  the  stay  of  the  army 
here.  I  trust  that  they  will  receive  no  attention  at  the  War  Depart- 
ment:' 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  51 

Here  General  Taylor  himself  declares  that  these  reports  were 
altogether  goundless,  and  -cautions  the  War  Department  not  to 
2;ive  them  any  attention. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  as  soon  as  Texas  was  annexed, 
the  Mexican  minister  demanded  his  passports  and  returned  home. 
The  friendly  relations  of  the  two  governments  having  been  thus 
interrupted,  their  diplomatic  relations  were  suspended.  Yet  Mex- 
ico was  still  willing  to  receive  a  special  commissioner  to  treat 
upon  the  causes  of  that  suspension;  not  to  settle  a  «' boundary 
question,"  for  she  had  none  to  settle.  Besides,  had  such  a  ques- 
tion existed,  the  United  States  themselves  were  not  then  ready  to 
settle  it,  as  we  shall  presently  show.  The  Rio  Grande  was  not 
the  "western  boundary"  of  California,  nor  the  southern;  and 
among  other  regions  of  the  globe,  California  was  to  be  acquired 
yet.  It  had  been  "  explored  "  already.* 

All  this  time  our  government  was  affecting  to  be  very  "  peace- 
ably inclined,"  by  offering  to  send  a  minister  to  Mexico  to  nego- 
tiate a  settlement  of  all  existing  differences ;  and  although  the 
government  of  that  republic  had  steadily  and  firmly  refused  to 
receive  any  but  a  special  commissioner,  on  the  10th  of  November, 
1845,  Mr.  Polk  commissioned  John  Slidell  of  Louisiana,  as  an 
•"  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Mexico, 
clothed  \vi\h  full  powers  to  adjust  and  definitely  settle,  all  pending 
differences  between  the  two  countries,  including  those  of  boun- 
dary between  Mexico  and  ike  State  of  Texas"  f 

When  Slidell  had  received  his  instructions  from  James  K. 
Polk,  he  took  his  departure  for  Mexico.  On  arriving  there,  that 
government  refused  to  treat  with  him,  for  reasons  which  have  been 
explained.  General  Taylor,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  at  Corpus 
Christi  with  his  "  dogs  of  war,"  ready  to  let  them  slip  the  moment 
the  word  of  command  was  given  at  Washington.  As  Slidell  did 
not  succeed  in  drawing  Mexico  into  a  negotiation,  either  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  boundary  question,  the  payment  of  "claims,"  or 
the  surrender  of  the  Californias,  he  began  to  urge  upon  his 
government  a  resort  to  extreme  measures.  On  the  27th  of  De- 
cember, 1845,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State,  as 
follows : 

*  See  Report  of  Captain  Fremont,  Doc.  1£6,  29th  Congress. 
f  Folk's  Annual  Message,  Dec.,  3845. 


52  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

"  The  desire  of  our  government  to  secure  peace,  will  be  mis- 
taken for  timidity  ;  the  most  extravagant  pretensions  will  be  made 
and  insisted  upon,  until  the  Mexican  people  shall  be  convinced  by 
hostile  demonstrations,  that  our  differences  must  be  settled  promptly, 
either  by  negotiation  or  by  the  SWORD." 

The  government  was  not  long  in  improving  upon  this  hint,  for 
in  about  two  weeks  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  which  must  have 
been  immediately  after  its  receipt,  the  "hostile  demonstrations'* 
were  made.  On  the  13th  of  Jan.,  1846,  General  Taylor  was 
ordered  to  move  forward  to  the  Rio  Grande.  He  accordingly  took 
possession  of  the  Mexican  custom-house  at  Brazos  Santiago,  in- 
vested the  town  with  a  military  force,  fortified  Point  Isabel,  and 
planted  his  batteries  in  front  of  the  city  of  Matamoras.  When 
these  preparations  were  nearly  completed,  he  wrote  to  the  Adju- 
tant General,  April  6,  184(5,  as  follows  : 

"  On  our  sid^,  a  battery  for  four  18-pounders  will  be  completed,, 
and  the  guns  placed  in  battery  to-day.  These  guns  bear  directly 
upon  the  public  square  of  Matamoras;  and  within  good  range  for 
demolishing  the  town." 

On  the  15th  of  April,  General  Taylor  informed  the  department,, 
that  "  no  hostile  movement  had  then  been  made  by  the  Mexicans." 
Four  days  after,  aa  officer  in  the  army  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the 
Philadelphia  Spirit  of  the  Times,  as  follows  : 

"CAMP  OPPOSITE  MATAMORAS,  April  19,  1846. 
Our  situation  here  is  an  extraordinary  one.  Right  in  the  ene- 
my's country,  actually  occupying  their  corn  and  cotton  fields,  the 
people  of  the  soil  leaving  their  homes,  and  we,  with  a  small  hand- 
ful of  men,  marching,  with  colors  flying,  and  drums  beating,  right 
under  the  very  guns  of  one  of  their  principal  cities,  displaying  the 
star  spangled  banner,  as  if  in  defiance,  under  their  very  nose; 
and  they,  with  an  army  twice  our  size  at  least,  sit  quietly  down, 
and  make  not  the  least  resistance,  —  not  the  first  effort  to  drive 
the  invaders  off.  There  is  no  parallel  to  it." 

The  next  letter  of  General  Taylor,  is  dated  April  23,  1846,  in 
which  he  says  r. 

"  With  a  view  to  check  the  depredations  of  small  parties  of 
Mexicans  on  this  side  of  the  river,  Lieutenants  Dobbin,  3d  infan- 
try, and  Porter,  of  the  4th  infantry,  were  authorized  by  me  a  few 
days  since  to  scour  the  country  for  some  miles,  with  a  select 
party  of  men,  and  CAPTURE  OR  DESTROY  any  such  parties  as  they 
might  meet.  It  appears  that  they  separated,  and  that  Lieut.  Porter, 
at  the  head  of  his  own  detachment,  surprised  a  Mexican 
drove  aumy  the  men,  and  took  possession  of  their  horses." 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE,  53 

compare  the  facts  with  these  statements  of  James  K.  Polk, 
In  his  last  annual  message,  in  which  he  says: 

"  The  existing  war  with  Mexico  was  neither  desired  nor  pro- 
voked by  the  United  States.  On  the  contrary,  all  honorable  means 
were  resorted  to,  to  avert  it." 

Fraud  and  robbery  have  always  been  regarded  as  "honorable 
means,"  by  slave-holders,  whenever  they  wished  to  coerce  submis- 
sion to  their  demands;  and  as  to  "averting"  the  war,  neither 
Polk  or  the  nation  ever  had  any  such  desire,  as  all  the  facts  above 
detailed  clearly  demonstrate. 

"  On  the  26th  April,  Gen.  Taylor  again  writes :  '  I  regret  to 
report  that  a  party  of  dragoons,  sent  out  by  me  on  the  24th  instant 
to  watch  the  course  of  the  river  above  on  this  bank,  became  en- 
gaged with  a  very  large  force  of  the  enemy,  and  after  a  short  affair, 
in  which  some  sixteen  were  killed  and  wounded,  appear  to 'have 
been  surrounded  and  compelled  to  surrender.'  He  further  adds: 
*  Hostilities  may  now  be  considered  as  commenced.'  For  thus  attack- 
ing a  superior  force  of  Mexicans  without  orders,  we  are  informed 
that  Captain  Thornton,  who  commanded  the  dragoons,  was  arrested 
and  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and  the  record  of  that  proceeding 
may  now  be  found  in  the  War  Department."* 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  affair  reached  Washington,  the 
President  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  declaring  that  a  state  of 
war  existed  "  by  the  act  of  Mexico."  This  stupendous  lie  was  im- 
mediately adopted  by  that  body,  and  entered  on  its  records.  On 
the  llth  of  May,  1846,  a  bill  with  a  preamble  containing  this 
brazen  falsehood,  was  adopted  in  the  Mouse,  by  a  vote  of  174  to  14. 

"James  K.  Polk,  boasted  in  his  first  annual  Message,  that 
'This  accession  to  our  territory  has  been  A  BLOODLESS  achieve- 
ment.    Ao  arm  of  force  has  been  raised  to  produce  the  result.     The 
SWORD  has  no  part  in  the  victory.' 
"  Now  for  a  bloody  commentary  !  " 

A  few  days  before  the  passage  of  this  bill,  two  battles  were 
fought,  on  the  8th  and  9th  of  May,  at  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 
Palm:i,  in  which  the  Mexicans  were  routed  with  great  slaughter ; 
the  Americans  murdering  them  three  to  one.  Not  long  after  wards 
Matamoras  was  fired  upon  by  the  batteries  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river,  and  was  compelled  to  surrender  to  the  plundering  inva- 
ders. Other  towns  and  cities  soon  shared  a  similar  fate.  Among 

*  Speech  of  J.  R.  Giddings,  H.  R.,  Dec.  1846. 
4* 


54  TACTS    TOR    THE    PEOPLE, 

which  was  Santa  Fey  the  capital  of  New  Mexico.  On  taking 
possession  of  this  place,  General  Kearney  issued  a  proclamation  to 
the  inhabitants  of  this  province,  absolving  them  from  all  allegiance 
to  the  Government  of  Mexico,  and  transferring  their  allegiance  to 
the  nation  which  was  sacking  their  towns  and  murdering  their 
brethren  ;  thus  converting  them  at  a  dash  into  American  citizens  ; 
a  rare  and  novel  mode  of  naturalization.  As  this  document  is  so 
full  of  cool  impudence,  and  barefaced  villany ;  and  as  it  throws 
additional  light  on  the  designs  of  the  government,  we  give  some 
extracts : 

"  PROCLAMATION. —  To  the  inhabitants  ofNeiv  Mexico,  by  Briga- 
dier General  S.  W.  Kearney,  commanding  the  troops  of  the  Umttd 
States  of  America" 

"  As  by  the  act  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  a  state  of  war  exists 
between  that  government  and  the  United  States,  and  as  the  un- 
dersigned, at  the  head  of  his  troops,  on  the  18th  instant,  took  pos- 
session of  Santa  Fe,  the  capital  of  the  Department  of  New  Mex- 
ico, he  now  announces  his  intention  of  holding  the  Department  with 
its  original  boundaries,  (on  both  sides  of  the  Del  Norte,)  as  a  part 
of  the  United  States,  and  under  the  name  of  the  Territory  of  New 
Mexico." 

"The  undersigned  has  instructions  from  his  government  to  re- 
quire of  those  who  have  left  their  homes,  and  taken  up  arms 
against  the  United  States,  to  return  forthwith  to  them,  or  else  they 
will  be  considered  as  enemies  and  TRAITORS,  subjecting  their  per- 
sons to  punishment,  and  their  property  to  seizure  and  confiscation 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public  treasury.  It  is  the  wish  and  intention 
oj  the  United  States  to  provide  for  New  Mexico  a  free  government, 
with  the  least  possible  delay,  similar  to  those  in  the  United 
States." 

"  The  undersigned  hereby  absolves  all  persons  residing  within  the 
boundary  of  New  Mexico,  from  all  further  allegiance  to  the  Repub- 
lic of  Mexico,  and  hereby  claims  them  as  citizens  of  the  United  Slatts. 
Those  who  remain  quiet  and  peaceable  will  be  considered  as  good 
citizens,  and  receive  protection.  Those  who  are  found  in  arms, 
or  instigating  others  against  the  United  States,  will  be  considered 
as  TRAITORS,  and  treated  accordingly." 

About  the  same  time  Monterey  on  the  Pacific,  the  capital  of 
California,  fell  a  prey  to  the  American  squadron  under  Commodore 
Sloat,  who  issued  a  similar  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants  of  that 
region,  declaring  that  if  they  did  not  lay  down  their  arms,  put 
their  necks  under  the  yoke,  and  consent  to  be  naturalized,  they 
would  be  regarded  as  TRAITORS,  and  dealt  with  accordingly. 

General  Taylor  had  already  issued  his  proclamation,  not  to  a 


PACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 


55 


single  State  however,  but  to  the  whole  of  Mexico,  calling  on  the 
people  to  forsake  their  rules,  and  come  under  the  loving  protection 
of  the  United  States.  Some  extracts  are  here  given  from 

"A  PROCLAMATION,  —  By  the  General  Commanding  the  Army 
of  the  United  States  of  America  :  To  the  people  of  Mexico" 

*  *  "  Being  disarmed,  you  were  left  defenceless,  an  easy  prey 
to  the  savage  Camanches,  who  not  only  destroy  your  lives  and 
property,  but  drive  into  a  captivity  more  horrible  than  death  itself, 
your  wives  and  children.  It  is  your  military  rulers  who  have  re- 
duced you  to  this  deplorable  condition." 

"  It  is  these  tyrants,  and  their  corrupt  and  cruel  satellites,  gorged 
with  the  people's  treasure,  by  whom  you  are  thus  oppressed  and 
impoverished." 

"  It  is  our  wish  to  see  you  liberated  from  despots,  —  to  drive  back 
the  savage  Camanches,  —  to  prevent  the  renewal  of  their  assaults, 
and  to  compel  them  to  restore  to  you  from  captivity  your  long  lost 
wives  and  children.  Your  religion,  your  altars  and  churches,  the 
property  of  your  churches  and  citizens,  the  emblems  of  your  faith  and 
its  ministers,  shall  be  protected  and  remain  inviolate." 

"  We  come  among  (he  people  of  Mexico  as  friends  and  republi- 
can brethren,  and  all  who  receive  us  as  such  shall  be  protected, 
whilst  all  who  are  seduced  into  the  army  of  your  dictator  shall  be 
treated  as  enemies." 

"  It  is  the  settled  policy  of  your  tyrants  to  deceive  you  in  regard 
to  the  policy  and  character  of  our  government  and  people." 

"These  tyrants  fear  the  example  of  our  free  institutions,  and 
constantly  endeavor  to  misrepresent  our  purposes,  and  inspire  you 
with  hatred  for  your  republican  brethren  of  the  American  Union." 

"  Mexicans  we  must  treat  as  enemies,  and  overthrow  the  tyrants 
who,  while  they  have  wronged  and  insulted  us,  have  deprived  you 
of  your  liberty  ;  but  the  Mexican  people  who  remain  neutral  dur- 
ing the  contest,  shall  be  protected  against  their  despots  by  the  re- 
publican army  of  the  Union.  Z.  TAYLOR, 

Major  General  U.  S.  A.  Commanding." 

This  "  proclamation  "  is  full  of"  honied  words  and  fair  speech- 
es." We  shall  soon  see  what  they  were  worth. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  the  city  of  Monterey,  the  capital  of 
New  Leon,  was  besieged  by  a  strong  force  under  this  same  Z. 
Taylor ;  and  after  three  days  of  hard  fighting,  it  was  taken  by 
storm. 

The  bloodiest  annals  of  the  Old  World  hardly  furnish  a  par- 
allel to  this  battle,  in  comparison  with  the  numbers  engaged.  The 
carnage  was  truly  frightful.  The  population  of  the  city  was  about 
twelve  thousand  ;  large  numbers  of  whom,  particularly  the  fe- 
males, had  doubtless  remained  "neutral  during  the  contest." 
And  now  for  General  Taylor's  "'protection.*' 


56  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

The  Monterey  correspondent  of  the  Charleston  Mercury  says: 

"  We  are  sorry  to  say,  at  the  close  of  this  rambling-  letter,  that 
the  general  of  the  victorious  division,  apparently  for  the  sake  of 
popularity,  sullied  his  fair  fame  by  neglecting,  for  some  time  after 
the  capitulation,  to  restrain  the  passions  of  the  volunteers.  The 
guards  were  prohibited  from  sending  out  patrols  to  preserve  order 
and  quiet  in  the  city,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  foul  spirit  was 
not  long  in  developing  itself.  As  at  Matamoras,  MURDER, 
ROBBERY  AND  RAPE  were  committed  in  the  broad  light  of 
day,  and  as  if  desirous  to  signalize  themselves  at  Monterey  by 
some  new  act  of  atrocity,  they  burned  many  of  the  thatched  huts 
of  the  poor  peasants.  It  is  thought  that  more  than  one  hundred  of 
the  inhabitants  were  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and  one  Mexican 
soldier,  with  Gen.  Worth's  passport  in  his  pocket,  was  shot  dead 
at  noon-day  in  the  main  street  of  the  city,  by  a  ruffian  from  Texas. 
But  for  the  moral  influence,  and  the  finally  exerted  physical  force 
of 'the  hirelings  of  government,'  the  dark  deeds  of  Badajoz  would 
have  been  repeated  in  Monterey.  Guards  of  'mercenaries'  are 
now  placed  in  every  street,  and  over  every  building  in  the  city,  to 
prevent  depredations  being  committed  by  those  who  come  here 
from  devotion  to  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 

"  The  Mexicans  themselves,  admit  that  before  the  arrival  of  the 
volunteers  upon  the  Rio  Grande,  all  Eastern  Mexico  was  ripe  for 
revolt,  and  annexation  to  the  United  States.  Now  there  is  no  por- 
tion of  the  country  so  bitterly  hostile  to  us  and  our  institutions. 
We  have  before  us  a  Monterey  paper  of  July,  which  reminds  the 
disaffected  of  the  atrocities  committed  at  Matamoras,  and  adds 
that  the  volunteers,  the  most  unprincipled  and  ungovernable  class 
at  home,  have  been  let  loose  like  blood-hounds  upon  Mexico.  We 
fear  that  very  soon  there  will  be  kindled  a  burning  hatred  towards 
us,  which  will  make  the  tirnid  Mexicans  rally  from  every  city, 
village  and  rancho  around  the  banner  of  their  country,  and  fight 
with  a  courage  and  constancy  worthy  the  descendants  of  those  re- 
nowned heroes  who  conquered  the  fairest  portion  of  America." 

There's  "  protection  "  with  a  vengeance  !  "  As  at  Matamoras, 
MURDER,  ROBBERY,  and  RAPE,  were  committed  in  the  broad 
light  of  day ! " 

For  those  who  might  think  this  statement  somewhat  exaggerated, 
we  give  the  following  as  a  proof.  The  army  correspondent  of  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune,  Mr.  Haile,  writing  from  near  Mier,  (Mex- 
ico,) Jan.  4,  1847,  says : 

"Below  Mier,  we  met  the  2d  regiment  of  Indiana  troops,  com- 
manded, I  believe,  by  Col.  Drake.  '1  hey  encamped  near  our 
camp,  and  a  portion  of  them  were  exceedingly  irregular  in  their 
behavior,  firing  away  their  cartridges,  and  persecuting  the  Mexi- 
can families  at  a  rancho  near  by." 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  57 

"  On  arriving  at  Mier,  we  learned  from  indisputable  authority, 
that  this  same  regiment  had  committed  the  day  before  outrages 
against  the  citizens  of  the  most  disgraceful  character ;  stealing, 
or  rather  robbing,  insulting  the  women,  breaking  into  houses,  and 
other  feats  of  a  similar  character !  We  have  heard  of  them  at 
almost  every  rancho,  up  to  this  place. 

"Gen.  Taylor  has  issued  proclamations  assuring  the  inhabitants 
of  th«  towns  in  the  conquered  territory  that  they  should  be  protect- 
ed and  well  treated  by  our  troops.  Since  this  place  has  been  gar- 
risoned by  volunteers,  the  families  have  been  subjected  to"  all 
kinds  of  outrages.  At  Punta  Aguda,  it  has  been  the  same;  most 
of  those  who  could  go,  have  left  their  houses.  Some  have  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  Camanches,  whilst  flying  from  the  persecu- 
tions of  our  volunteer  troops.  Recently  the  troops  here  have  re- 
ceived treatment  from  men  stationed  here,  (I  do  not  know  who 
commands 'them,)  that  negroes  in  the  state  of  insurrection  would 
hardly  be  guilty  of.  The  women  have  been  rtpeatedly  violated, 
(almost  an  every-day  affair,)  houses  are  broken  open,  and  insults  of 
every  kind  have  been  offered  to  those  whom  we  are  bound  by 
honor  to  protect.  This  is  nothing  more  than  a  statement  of  facts. 
I  have  no  time  to  make  comments,  but  I  desire  to  have  this  pub- 
lished, and  I  have  written  it  under  the  approval  of  Capt  Thornton, 
Maj.  Dix,  (who  has  in  charge  $'250,000  of  the  United  States 
money,)  Capt.  De  Hart,  Col.  Bohlen,  Lt.  Thorn,  Mr.  Blanchard, 
and  my  own  sense  of  duty,  and  I  am  determined,  hereafter,  to 
notice  every  serious  offence  of  the  above  mentioned  nature." 

"  The  American  arms  shall  not  be  disgraced  without  the  stigma 
falling  on  the  guilty  parties,  if  I  can  be  instrumental  in  exposing 
them.  It  would  be  criminal  in  me  to  overlook  these  outrages,  and 
for  the  national  honor,  as  well  as  for  that  of  the  United  States 
Army,  I  shall  not  do  so." 

The  Austin  (Texas)  Democrat,  as  quoted  by  the  Boston  Post,  a 
paper  which  has  always  strenuously  advocated  both  annexation 
and  war,  says: 

"  David  Horsely,  in  Capt.  Chandler's  company  of  Texan  volun- 
teers, had  been  found  murdered  in  an  orange  grove,  and  dragged 
to  the  San  Juan.  '  The  news  spread  like  wild-fire  among  Hay's 
men.  [Hay's  regiment  had  been  disbanded  for  disorderly  con- 
duct.] They  determined  to  take  ample  vengeance.  Wo  to  the 
Mexican  falling  in  their  way  !  Gen.  Worth  was  made  acquainted 
with  what  was  going  forward ;  he  sent  his  aid  to  expostulate  and  beg 
of  the  Texans  to  cease.  Infuriated  by  the  cowardly  meanness  of 
the  murderers  of  their  fellow-soldier,  THEY  SPARED  NOT  A 
MAN!  IT  IS  THOUGHT  EIGHTY  OR  ONE  HUNDRED 
MEXICANS  FELL  TO  AVENGE  THE  DEATH  OF  HORSE- 
LY!! Terrible  retribution  !  Gen.  Taylor  was  induced  to  order 
all  disbanded  troops,  such  was  the  excitement,  to  leave  Monterey 
in  forty-eight  hours." 


58  FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

[Correspondence  of  the  St.  Louis  Republican,  Sept.  29.] 

SASTA  FE,  August  12,  1846. 

Since  the  Insurrection  consequent  upon  the  murder  of  our  la- 
mented friend,  Governor  Bent,  and  other  American  citizens,  the 
affairs  of  the  territory  have  fallen  into  the  greatest  confusion. 
That  insurrection  which  arose  in  the  northern  district,  and  princi- 
pally in  the  valley  of  Taos,  was  speedily  and  effectually  eup- 
pressed, 

Thus  far,  all  was  as  it  should  be ;  but  since,  I  regret  to  say, 
nearly  the  whole  territory  has  been  the  scene  of  violence,  outrage 
and  oppression  by  the  volunteer  soldiery  against  all  alike,  without 
distinction,  —  the  unoffending  as  well  as  the  offending. 

The  parties  of  volunteers  detached  to  different  points  on  the 
frontier,  with  but  very  few  exceptions,  conducted  themselves  in 
the  most  insubordinate  and  oppressive  manner,  neither  respecting 
the  rights  of  property  nor  persons. 

To  redress  these  wrongs  against  unoffending  citizens,  in  the 
presence  of  this  licentious  soldiery,  the  civil  authorities  find  them- 
selves utterly  powerless;  and  I  add  with  regret,  that  the  military 
authorities  are  either  incapable  of  commanding  or  controlling  this 
lawless  soldiery,  or  are  entirely  indifferent  as  to  the  protection  of 
the  citizens. 

"  Verily  the  Americans  must  be  Christians  ;  for  there  is  no  other 
religion  which  has  in  itself  a  fund  of  redeeming  mercy,  sufficient  for 
the  perilous  desperateness  of  their  condition." 

The  most  sunken  in  infamy,  cannot  deny  that  these  are 
CRIMES.  We  will  now  take  a  glimpse  at  some  of  the  HOR- 
RORS of  this  slave-holding  war. 

The  Baltimore  correspondent  of  the  True  Sun  gives  the  follow- 
ing particulars  of  the  attack  on  Tobasco,  by  the  American  squad- 
ron: 

?  A  great  many  defenceless  females  and  children  were  unfor- 
tunately killed  by  the  shells  from  our  guns.  An  instance  or  two  is 
mentioned.  A  Mexican  had  his  only  daughter,  a  beautiful  girl 
of  eighteen  years,  completely  cut  in  two  by  a  twenty-four  pound 
shot,  and  after  laying  the  mutilated  remains  on  the  bed,  he  rushed 
down  to  the  beach,  covered  with  blood,  and  implored  our  men  to 
stop  firing.  In  another  instance,  a  whole  familv  were  sitting  at 
the  table,  \\  hen  a  shell  fell  among  them,  instantly  exploding,  kil- 
ling all  the  females,  besides  three  servants." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Louis- 
ville Courier,  dated  Monterey,  Oct.  17,  1847 : 

"  While  I  was  stationed  with  our  left  wing  in  one  of  the  forts, 
on  the  evening  of  the  21st,  I  saw  a  Mexican  woman  busily  en- 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  59 

gaged  in  carrying  bread  and  water  to  the  wounded  men  of  both 
armies.  I  saw  this  ministering  angel  raise  the  head  of  a  wounded 
man,  give  him  water  and  food,  and  then  bind  up  his  gtiastly 
wound  with  a  handkerchief  she  took  from  her  own  head.  After 
having  exhausted  her  supplies,  she  went  back  to  her  house  to  get 
more  bread  and  water  for  others.  As  she  was  returning  on  her 
mission  of  mercy,  to  comfort  other  wounded  persons,  I  heard  the? 
report  of  a  gun,  and  saw  the  poor  innocent  "creature  fall  dead!  I 
think  it  was  an  accidental  shot  that  struck  her.  I  would  not  be 
willing  to  believe  otherwise.  It  made  me  sick  at  heart,  and  turn- 
ing from  the  scene,  I  involuntarily  raised  my  eyes  toward  heaven, 
and  thought,  great  God  !  is  this  war  ?  Passing  the  spot  the  next 
day,  I  saw  her  body  still  lying  there,  with  the  bread  by  her  side, 
and  the  broken  gourd,  with  a  few  drops  of  water  still  in  it  —  em- 
blems of  her  errand.  We  buried  her,  and  while  we  were  digging 
her  grave,  cannon  balls  flew  around  us  like  hail." 

Why  the  writer  should  think  it  was  "  an  accidental  shot,"  that 
struck  this  "  ministering  angel,"  we  cannot  conceive.  For  she 
was  doing  precisely  what  the  American  people  have  declared  to 
be  a  crime  worthy  of  death  —  she  was  giving  "aid  and  comfort 
to  the  enemy." 

A  young  soldier  named  Wynkoop,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio,  who  was 
in  the  fight  at  Monterey,  writes  home  to  his  friends  as  follows : 

"  During  the  fight  of  the  second  day,  a  flag  of  cessation  was 
sent  to  the  Mexicans,  requesting  a  few  hours  to  bury  the  dead 
which  were  strewed  in  frightful  piles  over  the  field.  This  was 
refused,  and  the  wounded  and  dead  lay  where  they  fell,  beneath 
the  rays  of  a  scorching  sun  till  the  battle  was  ended.  It  was 
then  almost  impossible  for  our  men  to  endure  the  stench,  while 
they  heaped  dirt  over  the  poor  fellows  where  they  lay.  The  bod- 
ies of  the  dead  were  as  black  as  coals  ;  many  of  them  were  strip- 
ped of  their  clothing  by  the  Mexicans  during  the  night.  Several 
of  those  who  were  wounded  during  the  first  day's  fight,  crawled 
into  ditches  and  holes,  to  avoid  the  balls  which  were  rolling  like 
hail-stones  over  the  field,  whence,  exhausted,  by  the  loss  of  blood, 
they  were  unable  to  crawl,  or  give  signs  of  distress.  As  a  con- 
sequence, many  perished,  though  some  who  were  found  in  this 
condition  were  removed,  and  are  recovering."  —  Zanesville  Whig. 

A  volunteer  in  the  Kentucky  regiment,  (Rowan  Hardin,)  writing 
to  his  father,  after  the  battle  of  Monterey,  gives  an  account  of  the 
three  days'  fighting.  He  says : 

On  Monday  night  the  Mexicans  were  in  high  spirits.  They 
had  lost  but  few  men.  All  night  they  threw  up  sky-rockets.  At 
night  the  firing  ceased.  The  left  wing  of  the  Kentucky  regiment, 
to  which  I  arn  attached,  were  marched  into  the  fort  taken  by  us, 


60  FACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

to  hold  it  during  the  night.  As  we  moved  in,  we  were  in  point 
blank  shot  of  one  battery,  and  raked  on  our  right  by  another. 
They  both  belched  fire  the  whole  time  we  were  marching  in,  a 
distance  of  one  mile.  Such  a  night  as  I  spent  that  night,  I  hope 
never  to  spend  again.  We  had  eaten  nothing  since  daylight. 
We  had  no  shelter,  no  food,  no  fire.  We  laid  down  in  the  mire 
and  blood,  among  dead  men  and  horses,  and  a  cold  rain  fell  on  us 
all  night.  I  had  no  coat  on,  having  gone  into  the  fight  in  my 
shirt-sleeves. 

I  never  heard  balls  whistle  before.  Two  cannon  balls  passed 
within  two  feet  of  me,  and  many  more  within  a  short  distance. 

The  dead  men  were  awful  sights  to  look  upon,  some  shot  with 
cannon  balls,  and  some  with  small  shot,  some  with  their  heads 
shot  off,  some  with  their  legs  off,  some  with  their  bowels  scattered 
on  the  ground.  We  had  no  time  until  yesterday  to  bury  the  dead. 
The  heavens  were  filled  with  carrion  birds,  and  the  air  with 
stench.  I  have  not  time  to  write  at  large,  —  am  in  fine  health,  un- 
hurt, without  a  scratch,  for  which  I  am  truly  thankful." 

A  letter  from  Monterey,  from  James  A.  Jackson,  a  Washington 
volunteer,  in  the  Baltimore  Battalion,  describing  the  late  battle, 
says: 

"I  was  almost  thirsted  to  death;  and  upon  casting  a  disconsolate 
look  around  me,  I  saw  a  poor  fellow  lying  dead  close  by.  I 
stooped  down  to  see  if  there  was  any  water  in  his  canteen,  and  it 
was  full ;  I  took  a  drink,  and  swung  the  prize  to  my  side.  I  soon 
passed  another  poor  fellow  with  both  legs  carried  away  ;  he  had 
been  thus  wounded  ever  since  morning,  and  was  groaning  and 
calling  in  a  very  feeble  manner  for  water.  I  stopped  to  give  him 
a  draught,  and  he  emptied  my  canteen.  I  had  not  gone  one  yard 
from  him,  before  a  grape  shot  came  and  cut  him  in  two,  throwing 
little  pieces  of  flesh  and  blood  all  over  me." 

Extract  of  a  private  letter  from  an  officer  of  Artillery  in  our 
army,  dated  Monterey,  Mexico,  October  5,  1846,  in  the  New 
York  Tribune: 

"  I  was  exposed  to  a  most  severe  fire  on  the  whole  of  the  21st, 
and  for  two  or  three  hours  on  the  22d,  and  only  had  one  man 
killed  at  my  guns,  during  which  time  I  fired  over  fifty  rounds 
from  each.  I  am  satisfied  with  glory,  if  it  is  to  be  obtained  only 
by  butchering  my  fellow  men ;  and  I  wish  some  of  our  valorous 
friends  at  the  North  could  see  a  little  more  of  the  realities  of  war, 
and  they  would  not  be  so  anxious  to  rush  into  one  on  every  trivial 
occasion.  It  makes  me  sick  now,  when  I  think  of  the  scenes  I 
witnessed.  They  were  perfectly  horrid.  On  the  night  of  the  23d, 
as  our  shells  exploded  in  the  city,  they  were  followed  by  the  most 
terrific  cries,  perhaps  from  women  and  children,  which  did  not  cease 
till  morning.  Thank  God  !  I  only  threw  two  shells  that  night,  on 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  61 

account  of  being  told  the  Texans  were  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses 
immediately  in  my  line  of  fire ;  and  as  I  was  about  to  open  in  the 
morning  upon  the  principal  plaza,  which  was  filled  with  four  thou- 
sand troops,  1  was  stopped  by  the  appearance  of  a  flag  of  truce ; 
and  the  result  was  the  capitulation  of  the  city,  and  a  suspension 
of  arms  for  two  months;  which  I  hope  may  terminate  in  a  general 
peace,  and  that  we  may  be  permitted  again  to  see  our  families." 

PALO  ALTO  —  (Cor.  Spirit  of  the  Times.) 

*  *  *  "  Major  Ringgold  received  a  shot,  while  seated  on 
his  horse,  that  carried  away  the  flesh  on  his  legs,  from  his  knees 
up,  and  passed  through  the  withers  of  his  beautiful  thorough-bred 
charger,  'David  Branch,'  (a  frequent  winner  on  the  turf.)  Capt. 
Page  had  his  lower  jaw  shot  off.  The  wounds  of  the  men  were 
very  severe,  —  most  of  them  requiring  amputation  of  some  limb. 
The  surgeon's  saw  was  going  the  live-long  night,  and  the  groans  of 
the  sufferers  were  heart-rending.  Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given 
to  the  devotion  and  prompt  action  of  our  medical  officers.  It  was 
a  sad  duty  for  them.  *  *  *  * 

I  took  advantage  of  the  halt  to  go  over  the  field  of  battle.  It 
was  a  truly  shocking  sight.  Our  artillery  had  literally  mowed 
them  down!  There  were  heaps  of  dead  lying  hither  and  yon,  with 
the  most  ghastly  wounds  lever  saw,  which  made  one  shudder.  The 
number  of  killed  could  not  be  accurately  ascertained ;  but  of 
killed  and  wounded,  there  must  have  been  at  least  800." 


From  a  letter  published  in  the  Herald. 

*  *  *  "  At  an  occasional  lull  of  the  war,  the  shrieks  of  the 
wounded  and  dying  could  be  heard,  while  artillery  and  cavalry 
horses  were  rushing  madly  to  and  fro,  some  with  broken  legs,  and 
some  in  the  last  agonies  of  death.  *  * 

War,  while  raging  in  all  its  fierceness  on  the  field  of  battle,  is 
a  soul-stirring  and  noble  excitement;  but  after  that  has  passed 
away,  it  is  sickening  and  horrible  to  think  of  even,  much  less  to 
be  obliged  to  look  upon,  its  ghastly  barbarities.  I  will  not  freeze 
your  blood  by  telling  you  the  horrid  sights  I  have  seen,  the  shrieks 
I  have  heard,  while  at  the  same  instant  one  might  see  a  bacchana- 
lian orgie,  and  hear  the  shouts  of  the  revellers.  1  have  read  many 
accounts  of  battles,  but  never  a  description  of  one." 

From  a  correspondent  of  the  Prov.  Transcript. 

"  Our  regiment  (4th  Infantry)  was  then  ordered  forward  again 
to  support  the  artillery  in  a  new  position  which  they  had  taken ; 
as  we  rose  the  crest  of  a  small  ridge,  the  whole  battery  of  the  ene- 
my was  fired  at  ^the  head  of  our  column.  I  thought  for  the  mo- 
ment that  my  company,  (the  leading  one,)  was  all  cut  down.  Capt. 
Page,  who,  being  in  command  of  the  division,  was  then  on  the 
5 


62  FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

right  of  the  line,  was  struck  down  with  such  force  as  to  carry  with 
him  the  three  men  next  behind  him  ;  his  whole  lower  jaw  was  shot 
away,  and  the  ghastly  hideousness  of  his  visage,  as  he  reared  up 
in  convulsive  agony  from  the  grass  as  we  passed  him,  will  not 
soon  vanish  from  my  recollection ;  another  man  about  the  centre 
of  my  company  had  his  head  knocked  off;  the  sergeant  on  my 
right  had  his  musket  driven  from  his  hand  by  a  ball  which  passed 
between  me  and  the  man  before  me  ;  we  were  then  ordered  to  re- 
tire out  of  range  from  the  battery. 

Duncan's  battery  manoeuvred  admirably,  and  soon  began  to  re- 
turn the  compliment  with  interest.  I  don't  know  anything  I  have 
ever  heard  that  sounded  so  sweet  to  me  as  the  first  discharge 
from  his  guns :  for  the  idea  that  we  had  to  lie  there  and  take  it, 
without  being  able  to  strike  a  blow  in  our  defence,  was  anything 
but  pleasant. 

Our  men  soon  got  to  laughing  and  joking,  making  fun  of  the 
balls,  except  when  they  hit.  Some  of  the  balls  we  could  see  corn- 
ing bounding  toward  us,  which  were  easily  dodged  ;  but  I  saw 
several  artillery  horses  killed  by  them;  others  came  whizzing 
through  the  air,  which  we  avoided  by  lying  flat  on  the  ground ; 
others  came  ripping  through  the  grass,  and  these  told.  We  had 
been  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  this  position,  when  the  first  and 
only  shot  hit  my  company.  It  struck  in  a  little  squad  of  men 
about  three  feet  from  me,  wounding  five  men  so  that  one  died  that 
night,  another  had  his  leg  taken  off",  a  third  his  hip  badly  injured, 
and  the  other  two  not  much  hurt,  as  it  just  grazed  one's  head  and 
the  other's  hand,  so  as  to  leave  its  mark. 

We  entered  the  chaparral  bush,  but  before  we  had  gone  a 
dozen  yards,  we  came  to  a  little  opening,  where  I  saw  some  of  the 
'horrors  of  war'  in  the  shape  of  eleven  dead  Mexicans,  every  one 
cut  and  mangled  in  the  most  horrible  manner  that  it  is  possible  to 
conceive  of  a  cannon  ball's  killing  a  man.  They  must  have  been 
all  killed  instantly.  Col.  Belknap  ordered  a  hole  to  be  dug,  and 
had  the  bodies  tumbled  in  and  filled  up. 

We  pursued  the  poor  devils  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  then, 
to  my  great  relief,  the  command  was  given  for  the  8th  to  halt. 
We  then  began  to  look  about  us,  and  see  how  many  of  us  were 
left.  The  ground  all  around  was  covered  with  Mexicans,  and  a 
few  of  our  men,  and  also  with  horses,  some  dead,  others  more  or 
less  wounded.  It  was  dark  by  this  time,  and  parties  were  sent  to 
bring  in  the  wounded,  of  either  side.  They  did  not  have  to  go  far 
for  them,  — they  were  lying  all  around  us  plenty  as  possible. 

An  officer  who  came  in  yesterday,  told  me  that  they  were  bury- 
ing the  dead.  He  says  he  counted  eighty  bodies  that  were  put 
into  one  hole,  another  officer  counted  thirty-six  put  in  another,  and 
when  my  informant  came  away,  they  were  digging  holes  and 
bringing  in  bodies  as  fast  as  possible.  The  bushes  were  full  of 
them.  It  is  said  that  out  of  one  of  their  finest  regiments,  but 
twenty-six  reached  Matamoras." 


FACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  63 

A  gentleman  connected  with  the  U.  S.  Army  on  the  Rio  Grande, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Boston  Courier,  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  night  which  followed  the  recent  battle: 

"That  night,  was  to  me,  a  terrible  one,  which  I  shall  never, 
never  forget;  the  screams  and  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying 
on  both  sides,  mangled  and  torn  as  they  all  were  with  the  grape 
and  six-pounder  shots;  the  conflagration  of  the  battle-ground,  fit 
emblem  of  the  awful  work  of  death  which  has  so  long  been  going 
on  ;  the  moans  of  the  poor  oxen  and  horses,  so  terribly  mangled  ; 
and  the  dreadful  uncertainty  of  the  extent  of  our  loss,  and  how 
many  of  our  friends,  who  were  alive  at  dinner,  were  then  asleep 
forever  ;  the  night-work  of  our  surgeons,  with  their  horrible  instru- 
ments, all  besmeared  with  human  blood,  were  sights  and  sounds 
and  thoughts,  I  pray  God,  in  his  mercy,  may  never  visit  me  with 
again." 

Extract,  from  a  letter  from  an  officer  of  the  army,  communicated 
to  the  Albany  Evening  Journal,  dated 

"FoRT  BROWN,  May  33,  1845. 

T  assure  you  that  this  battle  of  the  9th,  will  never  be  forgotten 
by  any  participant,  —  a  most  closely  fought  and  bloody  battle.  I 
saw  a  corporal  who  was  by  my  side  kill  three  men,  who  appeared 
in  the  same  opening  in  the  thicket,  in  quick  succession  ;  they  liter- 
ally fell  dead  one  upon  the  other ;  he  then  wounded  some  others, 
rushed  out  and  made  prisoners  of  them ;  handed  them  over,  and 
went  to  work  firing  again.  This  man  expended  twenty-seven 
cartridges,  and  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  missed  his  aim.  The 
balls  flew  around  us  like  hail,  but  yet  there  were  only  three  or 
four  men  that  fell  near  me  ;  but  after  the  battle  was  over,  oh !  the 
awful  spectacle  that  ground  presented  ;  the  wounded  and  dead 
literally  lying  in  piles,  some  groaning,  others  in  the  last  agonies, 
others  begging  in  Spanish  for  a  drop  of  water,  and  it  was  exceed- 
ingly gratifying  to  see  with  what  alacrity  and  kindness  our  sol- 
diers wor.ld  give  them  the  last  drop  in  their  canteens,  and  assist 
them  to  the  place  designated  for  the  wounded. 

I  spent  some  time  after  the  battle  in  collecting  such  wounded 
men  as  I  could  find  ;  among  them  a  major  who  was  severely 
wounded,  —  he  asked  for  water,  which  I  gave  him,  and  one  of  our 
officers  coming  up  with  a  little  brandy  in  his  canteen,  we  gave 
him  a  drop;  he  took  my  hand,  and  giving  me  a  grateful  look,  said, 
'  thanks,  captain,'  which  I  presume  were  the  last  words  he  spoke. 
I  saw  the  poor  fellow  among  the  dead  on  the  following  day." 

Another  writes : 

"There  was  little  sense  of  a  mere  personal  discomfort,  however, 
on  a  field  covered  with  slaughter,  a  scene  which  I  trust  in  heaven 
never  to  witness  again.  There  lay  around  me  fellow-men,  com- 


64  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

rades  and  antagonists,  suffering  the  most  horrid  anguish  ;  some 
with  an  arm  off,  others  with  one  and  some  with  both  legs  shuttered 
or  severed  from  the  body. 

There  was  one  poor  fellow,  a  Mexican,  with  his  belly  tore  open, 
and  a  part  of  his  bowels  protruded  upon  the  ground  ;  he  was  still 
alive,  and  pointed  to  his  mouth  for  water;  but,  alas!  in  vain,  for 
we  had  none  to  give,  not  even  a  drop  to  cool  his  tongue.  He  soon 
after  perished,  of  course." 

An  officer  of  the  army  writes  from  Matamoras,  under  date  of 
May  23d : 

"  I  went  over  the  field  after  the  battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma, 
and  the  sight  which  met  my  eyes  there  was  one  which  imagina- 
tion can  scarcely  depict.  Bodies  of  Mexican  soldiers  were  lying 
about  in  every  direction  ;  some  with  their  heads  entirely  or  partly 
shot  off;  others  without  legs  or  arms;  others  with  their  entrails 
torn  out.  One  man,  a  fine  looking  fellow,  was  lying  on  the  ground 
with  a  cartridge  in  his  fingers,  having  evidently  been  killed  while 
in  the  act  of  priming  his  musket.  I  crept  about  on  my  hands  and 
knees  through  the  chaparral,  and  at  every  few  paces,  I  would 
come  across  dead  bodies ;  and  at  one  spot  I  discovered  the  body 
of  a  beautiful  Mexican  girl  staked  through  the  heart,n 

This  war,  so  horrid  in  its  details,  has  been  one  of  terrible  mor- 
tality to  the  invaders.  Colonel  Baker,  of  the  Illinois  regiment  of 
volunteers,  in  a  speech  in  Congress,  as  reported  in  the  Boston 
Atlas  of  Jan.  2,  1847,  says: 

"  Less  than  six  months  ago,  Congress  had  sent  into  the  field  as 
many  as  twenty-six  regiments  of  volunteers,  all  burning  with  the 
most  exalted  hopes,  and  ready  to  peril  their  all,  health,  reputation, 
life  itself,  not  in  a  defensive,  but  in  an  invasive  war ;  a  war  not 
undertaken  to  defend  their  own  homes  and  firesides,  but  for  the  g^ory 
cf  the  American  name  and  arms,  Alas !  how  many  of  these  fine 
young  men,  who  had  never  seen  a  battle,  never  had  cast  their 
stern  glance  on  the  countenance  of  an  enemy,  were  now  sleeping 
their  last  sleep  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande!  Once  their  hearts 
heaved  high  with  a  soldier's  fondest  hopes ;  proud  and  light  had 
been  their  measured  footsteps,  as  they  marched  in  all  the  buoyancy 
of  youthful  ambition.  But  now  — 

1  Where  rolls  the  rushing  Rio  Grande, 
How  peacefully  they  sleep  ; 
They  did  not  fall  in  bloody  strife, 
Upon  a  well-fought  field. 
Not  from  the  red  wound  poured  their  life, 
Where  cowering  foemen  yield. 
Th'  archangel's  shade  was  slowly  cast 
Upon  each  polished  brow ; 
But,  calm  and  fearless  to  the  last, 
They  sleep  securely  now.' 


TACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  65 

The  bones  of  nearly  two  thousand  young  men,  in  whose  veins 
flowed  some  of  the  best  blood  of  this  country,  were  now  resting 
in  the  mould  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  who  never  had  seen 
the  face  of  an  enemy,  arid  who  never  had  had  the  opportunity  of 
striking  one  manly  blow  in  behalf  of  their  country  and  their  race." 

-"Colonel  Ballard  states,  that  of  the  Illinois  regiment  he  took  to 
the  field,  not  one-half  will  return.  The  rest  are  dead.  Of  2,400 
Ohioans,  who  left  Cincinnati  in  June,  184G,  900  are  no  longer  in 
their  regiments  ;  dead,  or  with  ruined  constitutions  ! 

"The  number  of  dead,  dying  or  lost,  will  make  about  the  pro- 
portion of  40  per  cent,  in  one.  year !  Out  of  18,000  volunteers  of 
June  and  July,  1846,  7,000  are  dead,  or  gone!!" —  Cincinnati 
Chronicle. 

The  blackness  of  the  pit  can  hardly  furnish  a  parallel  to  the 
wickedness  of  the  people,  who  are  thus  wading  through  carnage 
and  blood  for  the  purpose  of  fastening  the  yoke  of  bondage  on  the 
necks  of  unborn  millions  of  their  race. 

In  his  last  annual  message,  the  President  said  : 

"This  war  has  not  been  waged  with  a  view  to  conquest." 

He  would  doubtless  have  us  believe  it  has  been  "waged"  "to 
establish  JUSTICE;  and  to  secure  the  blessings  of  LIBERTY  to  our- 
selves and  our  posterity."  And  all  this  indiscriminate  slaughter 
of  men,  women  and  children,  this  storming  and  bombarding  cities, 
and  giving  them  up  a  prey  to  the  lusts  of  the  brutal  soldiery,  who 
committed  "  rape,  robbery,  and  murder,  in  the  broad  light  of  day" 
were  the  only  means  for  accomplishing  so  desirable  an  end. 
Another  paragraph  from  the  same  message,  says : 

"In  less  than  seven  months,  we  have  acquired  military  posses- 
sion of  the  Mexican  Provinces  of  New  Mexico,  New  Leon,  Coa- 
huila,  Tamaulipas,  and  the  Californias,  a  territory  larger  in  extent 
than  that  embraced  in  the  original  thirteen  States  of  the  Union." 

Now  the  President  would  have  us  believe  that  the  conquest  of 
these  provinces  was  forced  upon  us ;  for  he  tells  us  that  "all  hon- 
orable means  were  resorted  to,  to  avert  it."  So  he  took  "  posses- 
sion" of  them  because  he  could  not  help  it. 

The  following  letter  from  the  War  Department  to  Col.  J.  D. 
Stephenson  of  New  York,  taken  in  connection  with  the  above  par- 
agraph from  the  message,  the  proclamations  of  Generals  Taylor, 
Kearney,  Commodore  Sloat,  and  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  will 
illustrate  the  truth  of  the  statements,  that  "  the  war  has  not  been 
5* 


66  TACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

waged  with  a  view  to  conquest ;  and  that  all  honorable  means 
were  resorted  to,  to  avert  it."    The  following  is  the  letter : 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  June  26,  1846. 

SIR, — The  President  having  determined  to  send  a  regiment  of 
volunteers  around  Cape  Horn  to  the  Pacific,  to  be  employed  in 
prosecuting  hostilities  to  some  province  of  Mexico,  probably  in 
Upper  California,  has  authorized  me  to  say,  that  if  you  will  organ- 
ize one  on  the  conditions  hereinaller  specified,  and  tender  its  ser- 
vices, it  would  be  accepted.  It  is  proper  that  it  should  be  done 
with  the  consent  of  the  Governor  of  New  York.  The  President 
expects,  and  indeed  requires,  that  great  care  should  be  taken  to 
have  it  composed  of  suitable  persons —  I  mean  of  good  habits  — 
as  far  as  practicable  of  various  pursuits,  and  such  as  would  be 
likely  to  remain  at  the  end  of  the  war,  either  in  Oregon,  or  any  other 
territory  in  that  region  of  the  Globe,  which  may  then  be  a  part  of  the 
United  States.  The  act  of  the  13th  of  May  authorizes  the  accept- 
ance of  volunteers  for  twelve  months,  or  during  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico. The  condition  of  the  acceptance,  in  this  case,  must  be  a 
tender  of  service  during  the  war,  and  it  must  be  explicitly  under- 
stood, that  they  may  be  discharged  without  a  claim  for  returning 
home  wherever  they  may  be  serving  at  the  termination  of  the  war, 
providing  it  is  in  the  THEN  territory  of  the  United  States,  or  may 
be  taken  to  the  nearest  and  most  convenient  territory  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  and  there  discharged. 

The  men  must  be  apprised  that  their  term  of  service  is  for  the 
war ;  that  they  are  to  be  discharged  as  above  specified,  and  that 
they  are  to  be  employed  on  distant  service.  //  is,  however,  very 
desirable  that  it  should  not  be  publicly  known  or  proclaimed,  that 
they  are  to  go  to  any  particular  place.  On  this  point  great  caution 
is  enjoined. 

The  communication  to  the  officers  and  men,  must  go  so  far  as 
to  remove  all  just  grounds  of  complaint,  that  they  have  been  de- 
ceived in  the  nature  and  the  place  of  the  service. 

It  is  expected  that  the  regiment  will  be  in  readiness  to  embark 
as  early  as  the  first  of  August  next ;  if  practicable,  steps  will  be 
immediately  taken  to  provide  for  transportation. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  L.  MARCY,  Secretary  of  War. 

Col.  J.  D.  STEVENSON,  New  York  City." 

The  following  extracts  from  the  Charleston  Courier,  will  throw 
additional  light  on  the  object  of  the  Mexican  conquest: 

"Besides,  every  battle  fought  in  Mexico,  and  every  dollar  spent 
there,  but  insures  the  acquisition  of  territory  which  must  widen 
the  field  of  Southern  enterprise  and  power  in  the  future,  and  the 
final  result  will  be  to  re-adjust  the  whole  balance  of  power  in  the 
confederacy,  so  as  to  give  us  control  over  the  operations  of  the 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  67 

government  in  all  time  to  come.  If  the  South  be  true  to  them- 
selves, the  day  of  our  depression  is  gone,  and  gone  forever  " 

"  If  they  succeed  in  restricting  slavery  one  inch  below  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  then  if  we  submit  to  it,  we  shall  deserve  our 
degraded  destiny.  When  this  issue  is  tendered  us,  let  the  conse- 
quences be  what  they  may,  we  must  meet  it  as  becomes  men  and 
freemen.  It  will  be  no  time  to  argue.  Not  that  we  should  care 
to  reserve  acquired  territory  merely  as  a  habitation  for  slaves,  but 
if  they  succeed  in  fixing  restrictions  against  that  institution  es- 
pecially, it  will  be  a  moral  degradation  and  insult  to  us,  which,  if 
we  bear  in  peace,  will  make  us  the  fit  subjects  of  despotism." 

"A  combination  may  be  made  upon  the  principle  of  opposition 
to  the  Mexican  war  upon  anti-slavery  feelings." 

"  The  first  development  will  be  a  movement  to  prohibit  the  in- 
troduction of  slavery  into  any  territory  to  be  acquired  in  Mexico, 
and  then  to  restore,  to  a  great  extent,  the  high  duties  that  have 
been  recently  abolished.  These  two  points  are  well  calculated  to 
rally  the  most  powerful  interests  against  us,  and  to  give  to  agita- 
tors and  demagogues  their  brightest  prospects  of  triumph." 

The  war  has  been,  and  is  now,  prosecuted  as  a  war  of  aggres- 
sion and  conquest.  And  the  Americans  are  still  ploughing  up  the 
plains  of  Mexico  with  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  war-god,  for  the 
purpose  of  planting  on  its  virgin  soil  the  infernal  "  Upas  orchards 
of  slavery."  To  make  this  still  more  evident  —  if  the  light  is  not 
already  too  dazzling  —  we  give  some  extracts  from  the  debates 
in  Congress  on  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso."  The  President  asked 
Congress  to  allow  him  two  millions  of  dollars  —  as  he  pretended  — 
to  make  peace  with.  But  really,  for  the  purpose  of  buying  slave 
territory ;  as  he  thought  it  would  come  cheaper  in  the  end,  than 
fighting  for  it.  So  a  bill  was  introduced  into  that  body  for  this 
purpose.  Upon  this  bill,  Mr.  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  offered 
the  following  amendment,  which  was  adopted  in  the  House;  all 
the  members  from  the  slave -holding  States,  with  Gen.  McKay,  who 
reported  the  bill,  voting  against  it. 

"Provided,  That,  as  an  express  and  fundamental  condition  to 
the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico  by 
the  United  States  by  virtue  of  any  treaty  which  may  be  negotiated 
between  them,  and  to  the  use  by  the  Executive  of  moneys  herein 
appropriated,  neither  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  shall  exist  in 
any  part  of  said  territory,  except  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
first  be  duly  convicted." 

The  bill,  so  amended,  went  to  the  Senate,  where  a  motion  was 
made  to  strike  out  this  hated  proviso.  Upon  this  motion  it  is  said, 


68  FACTS    TOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

that  "  a  Northern  Senator  talked  it  to  death."  When  Congress 
came  together  last  December,  the  President,  quite  as  anxious  to 
make  peace  as  he  had  been  to  avert  the  war,  again  asked  for  more 
money  for  this  purpose,  but  as  his  desires  had  somewhat  enlarged 
during  the  recess,  he  now  called  for  three  millions,  instead  of  two- 
A  bill  was  accordingly  introduced  for  this  purpose,  by  Mr.  Pres- 
ton King  of  New  York,  of  which  the  following  is  one  section : 

"  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  there  shall  be  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any  territory  which  shall 
hereafter  be  acquired  by,  or  be  annexed  to  the  United  States,  other- 
wise than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted:  Provided  always,  That  any  person  es- 
caping into  the  same  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully 
claimed  in  any  one  of  the  United  States,  such  fugitives  may 
be  lawfully  reclaimed  and  conveyed  out  of  the  territory  to  the 
persons  claiming  his  or  her  labor  or  service." 

Upon  this  a  debate  sprung  up.     Mr.  Hillard  of  Alabama,  said: 

"  Would  the  gentleman  say  he  meant  to  hold  all  the  territory 
we  might  acquire,  and  to  exclude  slavery  from  every  part  of  it? 
If  he  did,  he  would  warn  that  gentleman,  that  on  that  question, 
this  Union  could  only  stand  on  those  compromises  which  he  regard- 
ed in  their  sacred  obligation  as  second  only  to  the  Constitution." 

"  Gentlemen  transcended  the  rules  which  should  govern  them 
here;  if  they  proceeded,  they  would  rouse  a  feeling  at  the  South 
that  would  rend  the  bonds  of  this  Union  as  Samson  burst  the 
withes  that  bound  him.  Was  this  the  doctrine  that  was  to  be 
acted  on,  that,  acquire  what  territory  we  might,  free  labor  might 
be  suffered  to  go  there,  but  the  mfn  of  the  South  should  not  take 
their  slaves  with  them  there?  If  this  thing  was  to  be  done,  this 
government  would  be  unequal,  and  its  days  would  be  numbered." 

Mr.  Dargan  of  Alabama,  spoke  on  the  same  subject;    he  said  : 

."  What  was  he  to  infer  from  this  ?  That  it  was  their  purpose 
to  hedge  round  and  limit  the  South,  so  that  all  those  who  were  the 
owners  of  slaves  should  be  compelled  to  stand  just  where  they 
were  now,  and  never  to  move  a  foot  in  any  direction.  What 
then,  would  be  their  condition  twenty  or  twenty-five  years 
hence  ?  None  could  know ;  but  he  was  not  willing  to  run  the  risk  of 
the  consequences  of  any  such  arrangement." 

"  What  would  be  thought  by  the  volunteers  from  the  South, 
when  it  was  announced  to  them  that  slavery  was  to  be  excluded 
from  the  territory  their  arms  had  acquired?  This  question  must 
be  settled  before  we  proceed  to  acquire  more  territory,  for  after- 
wards it  will  be  too  late." 

"Mr.  D.  was  not  esteemed  by  his  friends  a  'hot  Southron;' 
on  the  contrary,  he  was  spoken  of  by  them  as  rather  a  cool,  con- 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  69 

siderate  man.  As  a  cool  man,  then,  let  him  tell  gentlemen  his 
own  candid  opinion  ;  unless,  in  the  territory  which  we  might  win 
from  Mexico,  and  add  to  our  own,  the  principles  which  had  settled 
the  line  of  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty  minutes,  as  the  compromise 
line  between  free  and  slave  territory  should  be  permitted  to  pre- 
vail, this  Union  must  at  once  sink" 

"  Say  to  the  South,  that  they  are  only  fighting  to  make  FREE 
TERRITORY,  that  it  is  only  for  this  that  the  brave  men  of  Caro- 
lina, Georgia  and  Alabama  are  perilling  their  lives,  and  they  will 
demand  the  settlement  of  this  question  now,  preliminary  to  any 
further  prosecution  of  the  war!" 

"  But  if  gentlemen  were  determined  to  push  on,  regardless  of 
the  principles  of  compromise,  and  press  them  to  the  wall,  let  them 
take  the  admonition  of  one  who,  in  all  probability,  would  never 
address  them  again,  and  believe  him  when  he  said  that  if  they 
did  that  they  might  from  that  hour  date  the  downfall  of  this  Repub- 
lic." 

This  speech  contains  a  frank  admission  that  "the  volunteers 
from  the  South"  are  fighting  for  more  slave  territory,  and  he  asks 
"what  they  will  think"  when  told,  that  after  all  they  are  not  to 
have  what  they  are  fighting  for. 

Soon  after  the  reading  of  this  bill  another  was  introduced,  pro- 
viding a  territorial  government  for  Oregon;  whereupon  the  ques- 
tion of  excluding  slavery -from  that  territory  was  raised ;  and  was 
followed  by  an  animated  discussion. 

Mr.  Toombs  of  Georgia,  said: 

"  The  South  would  remain  in  the  Union  on  a  ground  of  perfect 
equality  with  the  rest  of  the  Union,  or  they  would  not  stay  at  all. 
No,  the  people  of  the  South  claimed  the  right  to  carry  their  in- 
stitutions with  them  wherever  they  went;  into  all  parts  of  the  Re- 
public ;  that  they  had  a  right  to  make  their  own  laws  while  organ 
ized  as  territories,  and  when  they  became  States  to  choose  for 
themselves  whether  they  would  have  slavery  or  not.  That  they 
demanded  as  their  right,  and  they  intended  to  have  it.  It  was 
only  fair  play,  and  there  was  no  use  in  blinking  the  question. 
They  would  be  degraded,  and  unworthy  of  the  name  of  American 
freemen,  could  they  consent  to  remain,  for  a  day  or  an  hour,  in  a 
Union  where  they  must  stand  on  the  ground  of  inferiority,  and  be 
denied  the  rights  and  privileges  which  were  extended  to  all 
others." 

Mr.  Leake  of  Virginia,  said  : 

"That  if  the  present  attempt  to  impose  limitations  with  respect  to 
the  extens: on  of  slavery  should  be  persisted  in,  and  should  prevail, 
the  South  must  stand  in  self-defence,  for  they  could  not  and  would 
not  submit  to  it.  He  went  into  a  review  of  the  Wilmot  proviso, 


70  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

compla'ned  of  the  North  for  having  thrown  a  firebrand  into  the 
House,  appealed  to  their  justice  and  patriotism,  and  warned  them 
to  abandon  their  crusade  against  the  rights  of  the  South,  or  they 
might  see,  before  long,  '  the  beginning  of  the  end,'  but  God  only 
could  see  its  termination." 

The  bill  excluding  slavery  from  the  conquered  territory  passed 
the  Hbuse  by  a  vote  of  115,  to  106,  and  was  sent  to  the  Senate. 
Its  appearance  in  that  body  caused  considerable  excitement.  In 
the  debates  which  followed,  Mr.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  said: 

"  Sir,  there  is  no  mistaking  the  signs  of  the  times ;  and  it  is 
high  time  that  the  Southern  States,  the  slave-holding  States,  should 
inquire  what  is  now  their  relative  strength  in  this  Union,  and  what 
it  will  be  if  this  determination  should  be  carried  into  effect  here- 
after. Sir,  already  we  are  in  a  minority  —  I  use  the  word  *  we  ' 
for  brevity  sake  —  already  we  are  in  a  minority  in  the  other 
House,  in  the  electoral  college,  and,  I  may  say,  in  every  depart- 
ment of  this  government,  except  at  present  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  ;  there  for  the  present  we  have  an  equality.  Of  the 
twenty-eight  States,  fourteen  are  non-slave-holding,  and  fourteen 
are  slave-holding,  counting  Delaware,  Avhich  is  doubtful,  as  one  of 
the  non-slave-holding  States.  But  this  equality  of  strength  exists 
only  in  the  Senate.  One  of  the  clerks  at  my  request  has  furnished 
me  with  a  statement  of  what  is  the  relative  strength  of  the  two 
descriptions  of  States,  in  the  other  House  of  Congress,  and  in  the 
electoral  college.  There  are  228  representatives,  including  Iowa, 
which  is  already  represented  there.  Of  these,  138  are  from  the 
non-slave-holding  States,  and  90  are  from  what  are  called  the 
slave  States,  giving  a  majority  in  the  aggregate  to  the  former  of 
48.  In  the  electoral  college  there  are  168  votes  belonging  to  the 
non-slave-holding  States,  and  118  to  the  slave-holding,  giving  a 
majority  of  50  to  the  non-slave-holding." 

"  Now,  ]  ask,  is  there  any  remedy  ?  Does  the  constitution  af- 
ford any  remedy?  And  if  not,  is  there  any  hope?  These,  Mr. 
President,  are  solemn  questions,  —  not  only  to  us,  but,  lei  me  say 
to  the  gentlemen  of  the  non-slave-holding  States,  to  them.  Sir, 
the  day  that  the  balance  between  the  two  sections  of  the  country, 
the  slave-holding  States  and  the  non-slave-holding  States,  is 
destroyed,  is  a  day  that  will  not  be  far  removed  from  political  rev- 
olution, anarchy,  civil  war,  and  wide-spread  disaster.  The  bal- 
ance of  this  system  is  in  the  slave-holding  States.  They  are  the 
conservative  portion,  always  have  been  the  conservative  portion, 
always  will  be  the  conservative  portion ;  and  with  a  due  balance 
on  their  part,  may,  for  generations  to  come,  uphold  this  glorious 
Union  of  ours.  But  if  this  policy  should  be  carried  out,  if  we  are 
to  be  reduced  to  a  handful,  if  we  are  to  become  a  mere  ball  to 
play  the  presidential  game  with,  to  count  something  in  the  Balti- 
more caucus,  if  this  is  to  be  the  result,  wo !  wo !  I  say  to  this 
Union ! " 


FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  71 

The  clause,  prohibiting  the  establishment  of  slavery  in  the  con- 
quered territory  was  struck  out  of  the  "  three  million  bill,"  by  the 
Senate,  and  then  sent  back  to  the  House,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
the  slave-holders  another  opportunity  for  exorcising  the  rising 
spirit  of  liberty  from  that  body.  They  soon  found  "  dough-faces" 
enough,  whom  they  so  far  moulded  to  their  purposes,  as  to  get  a 
majority  in  favor  of  the  bill  in  its  amended  form,  and  it  was  almost 
immediately  adopted. 

What  the  President  has  done  with  the  money,  remains  to  be 
seen.  Another  bloody  battle  was  fought  at  Buena  Vista,  between 
the  Americans,  under  Taylor,  and  the  Mexicans,  under  Santa 
Anna,  on  the  22d  of  February,  which  lasted  three  days  ;  and  in 
which  four  or  five  thousand  men  were  murdered,  and  left  welter- 
ing in  their  blood. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  the  city  of  Vera  Cruz,  with  the  castle  of 
San  Juan  de  Ulloa,  surrendered  to  the  combined  military  and 
naval  forces  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  after  being  bom- 
barded four  days ;  and  after  the  city  was  nearly  laid  in  ruins. 
More  than  two  hundred  and  thirty  tons  of  cannon  balls  and  bomb- 
shells, were  fired  into  the  dwellings  and  streets  of  this  devoted 
city.  The  slaughter  was  principally  among  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. The  following  extracts  from  the  Boston  Daily  Mail,  of 
April  13,  1847,  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  awful  havoc  ; 

"  On  the  second  day  of  the  bombardment  an  offer  was  made  to 
surrender  the  town  ;  but  Gen.  Scott  would  not  accept  the  town 
without  the  castle,  and  two  days  more  of  bombardment  ensued, 
when  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  listening  to  the  entreaties 
of  the  suffering  inhabitants,  compelled  the  general  commanding  to 
surrender  both  town  and  castle." 

"  The  bombardment  of  four  days  placed  the  town  in  ruins,  under 
which  great  numbers  of  non-combatants,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, were  buried." 

"The  bombardment  is  represented  to  have  been  terrific,  and  to 
its  thunders  succeeded  the  moans  of  the  dying  in  every  part  of  the 
town  for  several  days  afterwards." 

"  The  destruction  in  the  city  is  most  awful ;  and  half  of  it  is 
destroyed.  Dwellings  are  blown  to  pieces,  and  furniture  scattered 
in  every  direction ;  the  streets  torn  up,  and  the  strongest  build- 
ings seriously  damaged." 

A  correspondent  of  the  Auburn  Daily  Advertiser,  who  was  one 
of  the  first  to  enter  the  city  of  Vera  Cruz,  after  its  surrender,  thus 
describes  what  he  saw : 


72  TACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

"  Never  had  I  beheld  such  destruction  of  property.  Scarcely  a 
house  did  I  pass  that  did  not  show  some  great  rent  made  by  the 
bursting  of  our  bomb-shells.  At  almost  every  house  at  which  I 
passed  to  examine  the  destruction  occasioned  by  these  dreadful 
messengers  of  death,  some  one  of  the  family,  (if  the  house  did  not 
happen  to  be  deserted,)  would  corne  to  the  door,  and  inviting  me 
to  enter,  point  out  their  property,  and  with  a  pitiful  sigh  exclaim, 
1  La  bomba !  La  bomba !  '  [the  bomb  !  the  bomb !]  My  heart 
ached  for  the  poor  creatures." 

"  During  my  peregrinations,  I  came  to  a  lofty  and  noble  man- 
sion, in  which  a  terrible  bomb  had  exploded,  and  laid  the  whole 
front  of  the  house  in  ruins.  While  I  was  examining  the  awful 
havoc  created,  a  beautiful  girl  of  some  seventeen,  came  to  the 
door  and  invited  me  into  the  house.  She  pointed  to  the  furniture 
of  the  mansion,  torn  into  fragments,  and  the  piles  of  rubbish  lying 
around,  and  in  ormed  me,  with  her  beautiful  eyes  filled  with  tears, 
that  the  bomb  had  destroyed  her  father,  mother,  brother,  and  two 
little  sisters,  and  that  she  was  now  left  in  the  world  alone  !  O 
war  !  war !  who  can  tell  thy  horrors  ?  Who  can  picture  thy  de- 
formities ?  " 

"  During  the  afternoon  I  visited  the  hospital.  Here  lay  upon 
truckle  beds  the  mangled  creatures  who  had  been  wounded  during 
the  bombardment.  In  one  corner  was  a  poor,  decripit,  bed-ridden 
woman,  her  head  white  with  the  sorrows  of  seventy  years.  One 
of  her  withered  arms  had  been  blown  off  by  a  fragment  of  a  shell. 
In  another  place  might  be  seen  mangled  creatures  of  both  sexes, 
bruised  and  disfigured  by  the  falling  of  their  houses,  and  bursting 
of  the  shells.  On  the  stone  floor  lay  a  child  in  a  complete  state 
of  nudity,  with  one  of  its  poor  legs  cut  off  just  above  the  knee. 
The  apartment  was  filled  with  flies,  that  seemed  to  delight  in  the 
agonies  of  the  miserable  creatures  over  whom  they  hovered,  and 
the  moans  were  heart  rending." 

"  I  went  about  from  cot  to  cot,  and  attempted  to  condole  with 
the  sufferers,  by  whom  I  was  invariably  greeted  with  a  kind  smile. 
Not  even  this  abode  of  wretchedness  had  been  exempt  from  the 
cursed  scourge  of  war!  A  bomb  had  descended  through  thereof, 
and  after  landing  on  the  floor,  exploded,  sending  some  twenty 
already  mangled  wretches  to  *  sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  no  wak- 
ing.'" 

Truly,  slavery,  thou  art  a  frightful  monster,  when  thou  canst 
thus  butcher  the  innocent,  and  fatten  the  earth  with  the  carcasses 
of  the  slain,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  and  perpetuating  thy 
terrible  and  bloody  dominion. 

The  following  article  from  GENERAL  ORDERS,  was  published 
with  solemn  pomp,  several  days  after  the  surrender. 


TACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  73 

"GENERAL  ORDERS,  NO.  72. 

ARMY  HEAD  QUARTERS,          1 
Camp  Washington,  before  Vera  Cruz,  March  28.  ) 
6.  The  inhabitants  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  Iheir  property,  are  placed 
under  the  safeguard  of  every  American's  honor  ;  and  any  miscre- 
ant who  shall   do  injury  to  any  persons  or  property,  shall  be 
promptly  brought  before  a  military  commissions  under  General 
Orders,  No.  20. 

By  command  of  Maj.  Gen.  SCOTT. 

(Signed)  H.  L.  SCOTT,  Asst.  Act.  Adj.  Gen.,  29th  March, 
1847." 

Does  the  reader  wish  to  know  what  sort  of  a  ll  safeguard," 
<c  every  American's  honor"  will  afford  to  the  defenceless  Mexi- 
cans, he  is  referred  to  the  letter  from  Monterey,  published  in  the 
Charleston  Mercury,  —  the  letter  of  Mr.  Haile  to  the  New  Or- 
leans Picayune.  The  article  from  the  Austin  Democrat,  &c.,  on 
page  57  of  this  work,  and  the  following  extracts  from  the  New 
Orleans  Delta. 

In  a  letter  of  Major  Coffee  to  the  New  Orleans  Delta,  giving 
an  account  of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  he  says  : 

"  Some  days  before  the  fight,  a  transaction  occurred  at  Agua 
Nueva,  which  called  down  a  severe  censure  from  Gen.  Taylor. 
One  of  the  Arkansas  volunteers  was  lassooed  by  the  rancheros, 
and  dragged  to  death  amongst  the  prickly  pears  and  thorn- 
bushes;  his  friends  heard  of  it,  went  out  and  slaughtered  18  or 
20  peons,  (half-serfs,)  totally  unarmed.  It  was  certainly  un- 
christian like,  but  they  kill  us  when  they  meet  us  to  disadvan- 
tage." 

The  following  extracts  from,  a  letter  published  in  the  St.  Louis 
Republican,  detail  the  particulars  of  this  bloody  transaction. 

"CAMP  OF  THE  ARMY  OF  AGUA  NUEVA,  ) 
MEXICO,  February  13,  1847.  J 

Occasional  murders  of  our  men  have  been  perpetrated  ever 
since  we  have  been  in  the  country,  —  all  killed  by  the  lasso. 
The  Arkansas  regiment  of  horse,  from  their  having  been  employ- 
ed as  scouts,  and  occupying  the  outposts,  have  been  particularly 
exposed  to  this  guerilla  warfarey  and  have  lost  four  or  five  of  their- 
men.  The  day  before  yesterday,  it  was  reported  that  one  of 
their  number  had  been  killed  by  the  Mexicans,  as  he  had  been 
missing  from  camp  since  the  day  before,  when  he  went  out  to 
look  for  his  horse." 

"  Search  was  made  for  the   body,  and  it  was  found  about  a 
thousand  yards  from  our  camp,  with  a  lasso  around  the  neck, 
6 


74  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

and  tied  to  a  prickly  pear,  having  been  dragged  some  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  chaparral.  The  Arkansas  men  vowed 
vengeance  deep  and  sure.  Yesterday  morning,  a  number  of 
them,  some  thirty  perhaps,  went  out  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
two  miles  off,  to  an  *  arroyo,'  which  is  washed  in  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  to  which  the  '  paisano'  of  Agua  Nueva  had  fled  up- 
on our  approach,  and  soon  commenced  an  indiscriminate  and 
bloody  massacre  of  the  poor  creatures,  who  had  thus  fled  to  the 
mountains  and  fastnesses  for  security.  A  number  of  our  regi- 
ment being  out  of  camp,  I  proposed  to  Col  Bis>ell  to  mount  our 
horses  and  ride  to  the  scene  of  carnage,  where  I  knew,  from  the 
dark  insinuations  of  the  night  before,  that  blood  was  running 
freely.  We  hastened  out  as  hastily  as  possible,  but  owing  to  the 
thick  chaparrals,  the  work  of  death  was  over  before  we  reached 
the  horrible  scene,  and  the  perpetrators  were  returning  to  camp 
glutted  with  revenge." 

"Let  us  no  longer  complain  of  Mexican  barbarity — poor,  de- 
graded, *  priest  ridden  '  as  she  is.  No  act  of  inhuman  cruelty, 
perpetrated  by  her  most  desperate  robbers  can  excel  the  work  of  yes- 
terday, committed  by  our  soldiery.  God  knows  how  many  of  ihe 
unarmed  peasantry  have  been  sacrificed  to  atone  for  the  blood 
of  poor  Colquitt.  The  Arkansas  regiment  say  not  less  than 
thirty  have  been  killed.  I  think,  however,  at  least  twenty  of 
them  have  been  sent  to  their  eternal  rest.  I  rode  through  the 
chaparrals,  and  found  a  number  of  their  dead  bodies,  not  yet 
cold.  The  features,  in  every  instance,  were  composed  and  tran- 
quil— lying  upon  their  backs,  eyes  closed,  and  feet  crossed.  You 
would  have  supposed  them  sleeping,  but  for  the  gory  stream, 
which  bedewed  the  turf  around  them.  In  some  instances,  after 
the  vital  spark  had  fled,  in  the  overflow  of  demoniac  vengeance, 
the  carbine  ball  dashed  out  the  brains  of  its  clayey  victim." 

"  The  army  condemns  the  bloody  deed,  and  but  through  the 
agency  of  Capt.  Coffee,  of  our  regiment,  who  rallied  his  men, 
and  stepped  between  the  victims  and  their  executioners,  seven- 
teen others  would  certainly  have  been  killed,  who  were  brought  by 
him  into  camp. 

And  what  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  the  perpetrators  of 
'  this  indiscriminate  and  bloody  massacre  ?  '  Why,  they  have  been 
blamed  by  Gen.  Taylor  ! 

We  gather  the  following  from  the  Boston  Times  of  May  11, 
J847  : 

**  By  a  letter  from  Gen.  Taylor  of  the  4th  April,  it  appears  that 
a  parly  of  Americans,  under  Col.  Mitchell's  command,  the  1st 
Ohio  U.  S.  Dragoons,  and  Texas  Rangers,  made  prisoners  of 
twenty-four  Mexicans  at  Guellapea,  gave  them  a  mock  trial  by 
night,  and  then  shot  them  through  the  head  ! " 

We  pity  those  who  are  compelled  to  place  themselves  under 
such  a  "  safeguard  *'  for  protection,  either  in  their  persons  or  their 


FACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  75 

property.  And  bitter  experience  has  taught  the  poor  Mexicans, 
that  it  has  been  thus  far  no  better  than  that  afforded  to  sheep, by 
a  pack  of  hungiy  wolves.  And  many  disgraceful  outrages  are 
already  reported  to  have  been  committed  upon  the  defenceless 
inhabitants  of  Vera  Cruz  by  their  new  guardians,  whose  only 
bond  is  their  "  honor." 

As  General  Scott  has  actually  inflicted  punishment  upon 
"  several  "  Americans  for  outrages  upon  "  the  unoffending  inhab- 
itants of  the  country,"  we  cheerfully  make  room  for  his  own  ac- 
count of  the  matter.  In  imitation  of  General  Taylor,  and  other 
American  commanders,  on  the  llth  of  April,  General  Scott  issued 
a  proclamation  "  to  the  good  People  of  Mexico,"  assuring  them, 
among  other  things,  that  "Americans  are  not  their  enemies^  — 
in  which  he  says  : 

"For  the  Church  of  Mexico,  the  unoffending  inhabitants  of 
the  country  and  their  property,  I  have  from  the  first,  done  every- 
thing in  my  power  to  place  them  under  the  safeguard  of  martial 
law  against  the  few  bad  men  in  this  army." 

"My  orders,  to  that  effect,  known  to  all,  are  precise  and  rig- 
orous. Under  them,  several  Americans  have  already  been  pun- 
ished by  fine,  for  the  benefit  of  Mexicans,  besides  imprisonment; 
and  one,  for  a  rape,  has  been  hung  by  the  neck." 
In  the  next  paragraph  he  triumphantly  asks  : 
<:  Is  this  not  a  proof  of  good  faith  and  energetic  discipline  1  " 
But  alas  !  for  both  his  "good  faith  and  energetic  discipline," 
it  turns  out,  as  we  learn  from  the  Vera  Cruz  Eagle  of  April  loth, 
that  the  one  who  has  been  hung  was  a  colored  man  by  the  name 
of  Kirk.  Had  he  been  white  he  would  have  done  what  he  did, 
with  entire  impunity.  And  we  have  yet  to  learn  that  a  single 
one  of  the  hundreds  of  white  <;  miscreants,"  who  are  guilty  of 
the  same  thing,  have  been  punished  at  all.  But  this  man  was 
not  a  soldier,  as  his  color  was  a  legal  bar  to  his  enlistment.  He 
was*  only  a  carnp  follower.  Nor  is  it  that  the  commission  of  rape, 
at  the  present  day,  by  the  Americans,  either  in  Mexico,  or  on 
their  own  plantations,  is  a  crime,  per  se,  that  poor  Kirk  was  exe- 
cuted. His  crime  consisted  in  not  being  of  the  right  complexion 
rather  than  the  rape  ;  and  it  was  for  assuming  the  prerogatives  of 
a  white  American,  and  doing  what  they  alone,  claim  the  right 
to  do,  that  he  was  "  hung  by  the  neck."  All  these  professions 
of  friendship,  are  a  sham  and  a  cheat;  as  such  professions  from 
such  men  ever  must  be.  After  having  murdered  them  by  thou- 


76  FACTS   FOR  THE    PEOPLE. 

sands,  pillaged,  and  destroyed  scores  of  their  cities,  towns  and 
villages,  committed  upon  their  families  tl  all  kinds  of  outrages," 
and  robbed  them  of  more  than  half  their  entire  country,  the 
captain  of  this  gaog  of  freebooter:?,  pausing  for  a  moment  in  his 
work  of  carnage  and  plunder,  seizes  a  poor  black  man.  hangs  him 
by  'the  neck  for  venturing  to  exercise  the  privileges  of  a  white  man, 
and  then  very  coolly  tells  the  Mexicans,  that  "  Americans  are 
not  their  enemies ! ;>  and  that  he  has  "  done  everything  in  his 
power"  to  protect  both  them  and  their  property;  and  trium- 
phantly points  them  to  this  hanging  as  a  proof. 

As  additional  evidence  of  what  was  stated  in  the  outset, 
that  the  design  of  the  government,  in  making  this  war,  was  con- 
quest, and  conquest  too  for  the  basest  of  ail  purposes,  the  attention 
of  the  reader  is  called  to  the  following  paragraph  from  the  Presi- 
dent's last  annual  message  :  * 

K  It  may  be  proper  to  provide  for  the  security  of  these  impor- 
tant  conquests  by  making  an  appropriation  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  fortifications  and  defraying  the  expenses  necessarily 
incident  to  the  maintenance  of  our  possession  and  authority  over 
them.'* 

Now  if  the  President  only  wanted  io  drive  invaders  out  of 
Texas  —  who  were  never  in  it  —  and  to  make  Mexico  pay  her 
debts,  what  did  he  mean  by  calling  upon  Congress  to  erect  forti- 
fications for  "  securing  our  possession  and  aulhoiity  *  over 
<£  these  important  conquests  ?  77  Did  he  mean  to  yield  these 
11  conquests,"  fortifications  and  all,  as  soon  as  the  invaders  were 
driven  oS,  and  Mexico  had  paid  her  debts  1  He  meant  no  such 
thing.  He  meant,  and  so  did  the  nation,  to  conquer  Mexico  and 
swallow  her  up,  for  having  committed  the  unpardonable  sin  of 
abolishing  slavery.  And  after  overrunning  two-thirds  of  her 
territory  with  incarnate  devils,  mad  with  whiskey,  madder  for 
the  extension  of  slavery,  and  satiating  their  lusts,  and  glutting 
their  love  of  plunder  with  the  <:  beauty  and  booty  'J  of  Malamoras, 
Monterey,  and  multitudes  of  other  places,  the  President  sent 
Senor  Atocha,  a  renegade  Mexican,  to  that  government  with  the 
modest  offer  to  pay  them  about  the  valuation  of  the  town  of  New 
Bed  ford,*  Mass.,  for  three  quarters  of  the  entire  Republic  of  Mexico, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeking,  in  her  refusal  to  sell  herself,  an  occa- 

*  December,  1S46.  f  Fifteen  millions  of  dollai  i. 


FACTS    FOR    THE   PEOPLE,  77 

sion  for  further  aggression.  Mexico  refused  of  course,  as  every 
body  well  knew  she  would,  and  Scott,  at  the  head  of  the  invad- 
ers, was  sent  to  finish  the  work  of  conquest.  From  the  city  of 
Vera  Cruz  he  marched  upon  the  capital.  He  met  the  Mexican 
army,  under  Santa  Anna,  at  Cerro  Gordo,  and  a  battle  ensued 
on  the  18l h  of  April,  in  which  431  Americans,  and  more  than 
IjOOO  Mexicans  were  maimed  and  murdered. 

From  the  butchering  of  Cerro  Gordo,  the  Americans  pushed 
towards  the  capital  of  Mexico ;  taking  possession  of,  and  plun- 
dering in  rapid  succession,  Jalapa,  Perote,  and  the  large  city  of 
Puebla,  containing  a  population  of  about  sixty  thousand.  Here 
they  remained  until  the  early  part  of  August,  when,  being  rein- 
forced by  five  thousand  men,  they  urged  their  way  towards  the 
"  Halls  of  the  Montezumas."  On  the  19th  and  20th,  they  en- 
countered "  the  enemy  "  at  Contreras  and  Churubusco,  and  after 
two  days  of  hard  fighting  were  again  victorious.  Here  an  armis- 
tice was  agreed  upon,  which,  however,  lasted  but  a  few  days,  as 
each  party  accused  the  other  of  violating  its  provisions. 

Hostilities  were  recommenced  on  the  7th  of  September,  and 
the  sanguinary  battle  of  El  Molino  del  Key  was  fought  on  the 
succeeding  day,  in  which  789  Americans,  and  about  3.000  Mex- 
icans were  mangled  and  slain.  The  legalized  banditti  from  the 
United  States,  were  now  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 
far-famed  Mexican  capital.  The  prize  was  just  within  their 
grasp  ;  and  they  fought  with  the  desperation  of  tigers  for  their 
prey.  Post  after  post,  and  fortress  after  fortress  yielded  to  their 
prowess.  The  storming  of  the  castle  of  Chapultepec  on  the  llth 
of  September,  was  one  of  the  most  ferocious  fights  on  record. 
The  contest  was  continued  for  several  days;  and  after  a  desper- 
ate struggle,  in  which  numerous  forts  and  batteries  were  taken 
by  storm,  the  Mexican  army  retreated  ;  and  on  the  14lh  of  Sep- 
tember, 1847,  the  city  of  Mexico  was  surrendered  into  the  hands 
of  the  invaders. 

As  it  does  not  enter  into  the  design  of  this  work  to  follow  out 
in  detail  the  operations  of  the  American  armies  in  Mexico,  any 
farther  than  is  essential  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  relative 
position  of  the  two  nations,  and  the  objects  and  designs  of  the 
United  States  in  waging  the  war,  we  pass  over  the  various  bat- 
tles, guerrilla  fights  and  skirmishes  which  succeeded  the  cap- 
6* 


78  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

ture  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  come  to  the  negotiations  on  the 
subject  of  peace. 

During  the  few  days  of  armistice,  between  the  battles  of  Chu- 
rubusco  and  Molino  del  Key,  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  a  commissioner 
appointed  by  the  United  States  to  accompany  Geri.  Scott,  and 
hold  the  "  olive  branch  "  while  he  slew  with  the  sword,  opened 
a  correspondence  with  Don  Pacheco,  ':  Minister  of  Relations  of 
the  Mexican  Republic,"  with  the  view  of  establishing  a  treaty 
of  peace  between  the  t\vo  nations.  The  proposition,  submitted 
by  Mr.  Trist,  through  rather  more  modest  than  that  of  Senor 
Atocha's,  went  to  the  extent  of  taking  on  the  behalf  of  the  United 
States,  the  Californias  and  the  whole  of  New  Mexico.  These 
negotiations  came  to  nothing;  and  Trist  was  recalled.  Before 
his  return,  however,  wilh  the  assistance  of  Scott,  he  succeeded 
in  negotiating  a  treaty  with  the  Mexican  government,  and  for- 
warded a  copy  to  Washington.  After  striking  out  several  arti- 
cles, and  inserting  others,  it  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1848,  and  then  sent  back, 
with  the  amendments,  to  again  undergo  the  action  of  the  Mexi- 
can government. 

The  portion  of  the  fifth  article  defining  the  boundaries,  is  as 
follows  : 

"  The  boundary  line  between  the  two  republics  shall  commence 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  three  leagues  from  land,  opposite  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  otherwise  called  Rio  Bravo  del  Norle,  or  oppo- 
site the  mouth  of  its  deepest  branch,  if  it  should  have  more  than 
one  branch  emptying  directly  into  the  sea  ;  from  thence  up  the 
middle  of  thai  river,  following  the  deepest  channel,  where  it  has 
more  than  one,  to  the  point  where  it  strikes  the  southern  bound- 
ary of  New  Mexico  ;  thence  westwardly,  along  the  whole  south- 
ern boundary  of  New  Mexico,  (which  runs  north  of  the  town 
called  Passo,)  to  its  western  termination  ;  thence  northward, 
along  the  western  line  of  New  Mexico,  until  it  intersects  the  first 
branch  of  the  river  Gila  ;  (or  if  it  should  not  intersect  any  branch 
of  that  river,  then  to  the  point  on  the  said  line  nearest  to  such 
branch,  and  thence  in  a  direct  line  to  the  same;)  thence  down 
the  middle  of  the  said  branch  and  of  the  said  river,  until  it  emp- 
ties into  the  Rio  Colorado ;  thence  across  the  Rio  Colorado,  fol- 
lowing the  division  line  between  Upper  and  Lower  California,  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean. ;; 

Whether  the  amended  treaty  is  ratified  by  Mexico  or  not,  it  is 
evidently  the  design  of  the  American  government  to  hold  all  the 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  7$ 

territory  acquired  by  it  to  the  United  States  ;  so  that  slavery  has 
already  obtained  territory  over  which  to  stalk  without  let  or 
hindrance  for  centuries  to  come. 

The  Americans  are  still  pursuing  the  work  of  conquest,  with 
appetites  sharpened  by  plunder,  and  lusts  inflamed  with  blood. 

Were  they  fighting  in  a  good  cause,  were  they  battling  in  de- 
fence of  their  hearth-stones  and  family  altars,  which  had  been, 
invaded  by  a  cruel  foe,  they  never  would  have  disgraced  their 
cause,  by  committing  atrocities  so  revolting  to  humanity,  as 
those  perpetrated  by  the  American  soldiers  upon  the  unarmed 
Mexican  peasants  and  their  defenceless  families.  But  as  we 
have  fairly  demonstrated,  that  the  cause  in  which  they  are  fight- 
ing is  the  blackest  under  heaven,  it  follows  that  the  most  de- 
praved and  wicked  of  our  race  are  fighting  it.  Good  men  never 
fight  in  a  bad  cause ;  arid  good  men  are  not  fighting  in  this.  On 
the  contrary,  the  nation  has  vomited  up  from  the  kennels  and 
sinks  of  pollution,  the  lowest  moral  forms  of  human  life,  embrac- 
ing both  the  dregs  and  scum  of  society,  and  sent  it  forth  a  burn- 
ing lava-flood  of  desolation,  wasting  and  destroying  -the  country 
of  our  Mexican  brothers,  —  but  recently  consecrated  to  universal 
liberty. 

There  has  been  much  said  since  the  commencement  of  this 
war  calculated  to  excite  the  prejudices  of  the  ignorant  against 
the  Mexicans.  They  have  been  represented  as  a  race  of  semi- 
barbarians,  ignorant  of  everything  that  can  ennoble  and  bless 
our  race.  Fur  the  purpose  of  stemming  this  tide  of  bitter  pre- 
judice, we  here  insert  an  extract  from  the  recently  published 
work  ot  Mr.  Thompson,  late  American  Minister  to  Mexico.  He 
says : 

"  On  the  16th  of  June,  1842.  the  Texan  prisoners  of  the  Santa 
Fe  expediiion  were  released  by  General  Santa  Anna,  that  being 
his  birth-day,  or  rather  the  anniversary  of  his  saint,  (Saint  Anto- 
nio,) which  is  the  day  kept  by  all  Mexicans  instead  of  their  own 
birth-day.  I  knew  that  they  were  to  be  released  on  that  day, 
on  the  parade  ground  near  the  city,  and  fearing  that  the  im- 
mense populace  which  would  be  assembled  might  offer  them 
some  violence,  I  went  out,  knowing  that  my  official  station  would 
protect  me,  and  might  enable  me  to  protect  them.  Never  was 
fear  more  groundless,  or  a  surprise  more  agreeable.  Santa  An- 
na reviewed  on  that  occasion  a  body  of  more  than  ten  thousand 
troops;  and  there  were  not  less  than  thirty  or  forty  thousand 
other  persons  assembled  in  the  field.  When  the  order  for  their 


80  JFACTS   FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

liberation  was  given,  it  was  received  with  acclamations  and 
shouts  by  the  Mexican  troops,  which  extended  through  the 
whole  vast  concourse.  The  officers  and  others  threw  pieces  of 
money  to  the  Texans,  and  as  they  passed  through  the  crowd, 
instead  of  jeers  and  insults,  every  Mexican  had  a  word  of  kind- 
ness for  them,  running  up  to  them  and  shaking  hands,  and  ex- 
claiming, *  amigo,  amigo  '  —  my  friend,  my  friend  !  I  saw  one 
poor  lepero  pull  off  his  blanket  and  offer  it  to  a  Texan  who  was 
rather  more  ragged  than  he  was  himself.  As  they  passed  along 
the  streets,  men  and  women  would  run  out  from  their  shops  and 
offer  them  bread  and  other  articles.  Let  it  be  remembered  that 
these  men  had  invaded  their  country,  and  that  they  had  been  sedu- 
lously taught  to  regard  them  as  their  born  enemies ;  los  Texa- 
nos  (the  Texans)  having  all  the  associations  with  a  Mexican  that 
the  words  los  Moros  (the  Moors)  had  with  their  Gothic  ancestors. 
1  could  not  refrain  from  asking  myself  whether,  if  the  people  of 
any  other  country  had  invaded  ours  and  been  made  prisoners, 
they  would  under  like  circumstances  have  passed  through  such  a 
crowd  not  only  without  insult,  but  with  such  demonstrations  of 
kindness  and  sympathy." 

"  An  incident  occurred  while  the  prisoners  were  confined  in 
Tacubaya,  which  is  characteristic,  not  only  of  the  Mexicans  of 
both  sexes,  but  of  women  everywhere.  On  one  occasion,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  very  first  exceptions  to  the  remark  which  I  have 
just  made,  a  subaltern  Mexican  officer  struck  a  Texan  who  was 
at  work  on  the  streets ;  a  young  lady  of  one  of  the  most  respect- 
able families,  and  I  sincerely  regret  that  I  have  forgotten  her 
name,  who  happened  to  be  passing  by,  called  the  officer  to  her, 
and  asked  him  if  he  was  a  Mexican  by  birth.  He  replied  that  he 
was  not.  She  said,  'I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  it,  sir,  and  I  did  not 
suppose  that  you  were,  for  I  did  not  believe  that  any  Mexican 
would  be  guilty  of  so  cowardly  an  act  as  to  strike  a  prisoner  who 
dare  not  return  the  blow." 

We  also  give  some  further  favorable  notices,  which  seem  to 
have  been  extorted  from  their  authors. 

From  the  Boston  Daily  Mail. 

"  NOBLE  CONDUCT.  —  A  correspondent  of  a  cotemporary,  writ- 
ing from  Vera  Cruz,  gives  the  following  account  of  an  incident, 
of  a  character  which  we  love  to  record.  {  Our  blockading  squad- 
ron are  daily  capturing  prizes.  I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  a 
circumstance  which  is  alike  honorable  to  the  Mexicans  and  our 
officers,  which  robs  war  of  some  of  its  sterner  and  more  repulsive 
features.  When  hostilities  were  opened,  and  the  blockade  an- 
nounced, Gen.  Bravo,  in  opposition  to  the  advice  of  a  council 
of  his  officers,  permitted  all  the  American  vessels  in  port  to  de- 
part without  molestation,  and  allowed  them  eight  days  to  close 
up  their  concerns  before  leaving.  Yesterday,,  the  Somers  and 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  81 

the  Fa! mouth  each  captured  a  valuable  prize,  under  the  Mexi- 
can flag.  A  colonel  of  the  army  was  passenger  in  one  of  them- 
Captain  Gregory,  commanding  the  squadron,  deemed  this  a  suit- 
able opportunity  to  acknowledge  thecouriesy  of  the  Mexican 
General-  He,  therefore,  released  both  of  the  prizes,  and  des- 
patched a  graceful  and  appropriate  note  to  Gen.  Bravo,  inform- 
ing him  that  he  had  been  told  of  his  liberal  conduct  towards  our 
vessels,  and  as  an  act  of  such  generous  magnanimity  could  not 
be  permitted  to  pass  unnoticed  by  an  American  officer,  that  we 
had  the  honor  of  returning  to  him  the  two  vessels  which  had  be- 
come lawful  prizes  to  our  squadron.  I  need  not  say  that  all  the 
squadron  cordially  acquiesced  in  this  timely  reciprocation  of  the 
forbearance  and  honorable  conduct  of  the  Mexicans.'  " 

From  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 
MEXICO. 

"  There  are  three  encouraging  facts  concerning  the  Mexicans 
stated  by  our  late  Minister,  Mr.  Thompson,  viz. :  The  good 
character  of  the  women,  the  general  temperance  of  the  people, 
and  the  ability  of  nearly  all  of  them  to  read  and  write.  The 
women,  (he  observes,)  in  their  manners  are  perfect,  and  in  the 
great  attributes  of  the  heart,  affection,  kindness,  and  benevo- 
lence, in  all  their  forms,  they  have  no  superiors.  He  thinks  that 
In  the  most  important  point  they  have  been  much  slandered  ;  and 
there  is  no  city  in  Europe  of  the  same  size,  where  there  is  less 
immorality  than  in  Mexico." 

"  '  I  am  sure,'  he  says,  '  that  during  my  residence  in  Mexico, 
I  did  not  see  a  dozen  men  drunk,  and  I  have  seen  assemblies  of 
fifty  and  a  hundred  thousand  people  without  one  case  of  drunk- 
enness. As  to  intemperance  among  respectable  people,  it  is 
almost  unknown.'  Again,  (I  had  not  a.  servant  during  my  resi- 
dence in  Mexico  who  did  riot  rea<l  and  write  —  neither  very 
well,  it  ia  true,  but  quite  as  well  or  better  than  the  same  class 
in  this  country.  I  often  observed  the  most  ragged  leppers.  as 
they  walked  down  the  streets,  reading  the  signs  over  the  store 
doors.  How  this  happens,  I  know  not,  unless  it  be  the  effect  of 
the  Lancastrian  schools  which  are  established  all  over  the  coun- 
Iry.' ;? 

A  correspondent  of  the  New  Orkasis  Ddta,  giving  an  accouat 
of  the  battle  of  Monterey,  says  : 

'l  During  the  progress  of  the  seige  of  Monterey,  there  were 
constant  and  affecting  evidences  of  the  kindness  the  Mexican 
women  afforded  to  the  soldiers  of  the  American  army,  to  the  regu- 
lars as  well  as  volunteers.  When  our  men  and  officers  were 
passing  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  during  the  most  exciting 
intervals  of  the  battle,  they  would  run  out  of  their  houses  with. 
Baskets  filled  with  bread  and  cakes  of  different  kinds,  and  dis- 


82  TACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE, 

tribute  the  contents  amongst  the  officers  and  soldiers,  without  the 
reception  of  fee  or  reward  for  their  kindness.  And  it  can  be- 
easily  imagined  that  these  were  highly  acceptable  donations,, 
inasmuch  as  many  of  us  at  the  time  were  very  much  reduced  in 
our  stock  of  provisions.  There  were  also  many  of  us,  during  the 
seige  and  af'er  we  had  entered  the  city,  placed  in  different  yards- 
in  the  place,  where  we  fired  from  the  tops  of  the  houses  upon 
the  Mexican  troops,  wh&  were  stationed  in  the  public  squares  or 
plazas." 

"  Here,  too,  our  toils  and  lassitudes  were  greatly  soothed  by 
the  tender  assiduities  of  the  Mexican  females.  There  were  some 
of  them  still  remaining  in  the  houses  which  backed  upon  these 
yards,  who  cheerfully  tendered  their  services  to  cook  for  us,  re- 
ceiving a  small  amount  of  compensation  from  those  who  had 
money,  and  to  those  who  were  destitute  of  means,  handing  food 
without  any  reward  whatever." 

"  The  humanity  of  the  Mexican  women  was  also  brightly 
manifested  during  the  most  intense  heat  of  the  action,  in  caus- 
ing the  wounded  among  the  American  soldiers  to  be  removed 
out  of  the  streets,  where  they  laid  weltering  in  their  blood,  into 
their  houses,  where  they  carefully  ami  tenderly  dressed  their 
wounds,  and  provided  them  with  food  and  drink.  They  also 
evinced  the  most  ardent  devotion  to  such  of  the  wounded  sol- 
diers on  the  American  side  as  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Mex- 
icans, and  sent  to  their  hospital.  They  dressed  their  wounds, 
washed  their  clothes,  and  brought  them  fruit  of  different  kinds,, 
without  any  charge  for  their  pains." 

The  Mexicans,  then,  are  not  wild  beasts,  but  men,  brother 
men  ;  whom  we  are  bound  by  every  principle  of  justice,  human- 
ity, and  religion,  to  love  and  protect,  rather  than  to  hate  and 
destroy.  And  would  the  limits  and  designs  of  this  work  permit, 
we  would  show  that  in  temperance,  humanity ;  and  national  jus- 
tice, they  are  far  superior  to  the  nation  which  is  now  grinding 
them  to  powder.  But  we  forbear.  An  impartial  future  is  yet  te> 
sit  in  judgment  on  the  character  of  this  nation,  which  in  regard 
to  its  privileges,  has  been  exalted  to  heaven,  but  which,  by  its 
crimes  and  oppressions,  has  thrust  itself  down  to  hell, 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE, 


WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  establish  jus- 
lice,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution.  —  Preamble 
to  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  United  States  —  twelve  out  of  the  thirteen  slave-hold- 
ing—  entered  on  their  career  as  a  nation  bound  by  a  compact, 
not  to  prohibit  the  foreign  slave-trade  until  the  home  market 
could  be  supplied  by  the  domestic  :  —  to  give  up  the  soil  of  the 
whole  country  as  hunting-ground  upon  which  the  slave-holders 
might  chase  down  the  flying  bondman  :  —  to  allow  a  represen- 
tation in  Congress  based  upon  three-fifths  of  all  the  slaves  in  the 
land,  and  to  aid  the  master,  by  bullet  and  bayonet  if  need  be,  to 
keep  his  slaves  in  subjection.* 

With  such  a  beginning,  strange  that  any  should  fail  of  seeing 
the  end.  Having  thus  received  the  bantling  under  its  protection, 
the  next  business  of  the  government  was,  to  provide  for  its  future 
wants.  Slavery  has  shared  largely  in  its  provisions,  and  fattened 
on  its  bounties,  until  the  little  one  has  become  a  giant,  whose 
tread  shakes  the  nation.  Before  it,  the  questions  of  Peace  and 
War,  Banks,  Tariffs,  and  Sub-Treasuries,  are  as  the  small  dust 
of  the  balance. 

The  Constitution  had  hardly  been  ratified  by  the  people,  and 
the  government  gone  into  operation  under  it,  when  Congress  be- 
gan to  legislate,  and  the  President  and  Senate  to  make  treaties 
for  the  better  security  of  slavery.  The  fathers  of  the  republic 
had  fought  through  a  seven  years'  war  with  Great  Britain,  be- 
cause, as  they  declared,  "  God  had  created  all  men  EQUAL  ; J) 
and  after  having  wiped  the  blood  and  dust  of  this  battle  in  be- 
half of  Liberty  from  their  brows,  they  sat  down  in  their  legisla- 

*  See  Art.  I.,  Sec.  2  and  9,  and  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  2  and  4,  Con.  U.  8. 


84  JACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

tive  capacity,  and  commenced,  on  a  large  scale,  the  business  of 
forging  manacles  for  the  limbs  of  slaves. 

Some  of  the  methods  in  which  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government  have  been  employed  for  this  purpose,  will  now  be 
mentioned. 


INDIAN  RELATIONS. 

<c  On  the  7th  August,  1790,  the  United  States  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  Creek  Indians,  in  which  they  distinctly  agreed  to 
deliver  up  the  negroes  then  residing  within  their  territory,  to  the 
officers  of  the  United  States;  arid  if  not  delivered  on  or  before  the 
first  day  of  June  following  the  date  of  the  treaty,  the  Governor 
of  Georgia  was  authorized  to  appoint  three  persons  to  repair  to  the 
Indian  country  to  demand  them." 

"  For  this  and  other  stipulations  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  the 
United  States  agreed  to  pay  them  an  annuity  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars,  together  with  certain  goods  mentioned  in  the  treaty/'  * 

Many  of  these  slaves  had  run  away  from  their  masters,  while 
they  were  fighting  for  their  liberty ;  and  having  obtained  that, 
after  along  and  severe  struggle,  they  turned  their  attention  to 
the  very  laudable  undertaking  of  reducing  them  to  bondage 
again. 

"  But  the  Indians  neglected  to  deliver  the  negroes ;  and  on 
the  31st  December,  1795,  the  Secretary  of  War  communicated  to 
the  President  the  fact,  that  the  Indians  had  disregarded  their 
compact,  and  advised  that  the  slaves  be  paid  for  by  the  United 
States.f 

This  communication  was  sent  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives by  the  President  on  the  12th  January  follovvino',  but 
no  final  action  appears  to  have  taken  place  at  that  time.J  On 
the  29th  of  June,  1796,  another  treaty  was  entered  into  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Creek  Indians,  called  'the  treaty  of 
Coleraine.*  By  the  terms  of  this  latter  treaty,  the  Indians  again 
covenanted  to  deliver  up  to  the  officers  of  the  United  States, 
such  negroes  as  were  resident  in  their  nation;  and  if  they  were 
not  delivered  by  the  first  day  of  January  next  following  the  dale 
of  the  treaty,  then  the  Governor  of  Georgia  was  authorized  to  ap- 
point three  persons  to  repair  to  the  Creek  nation  and  demand  said 

*Laws  of  the  United  States,  I  vol.,  359.  —  6th  American  State  Papers, 
81. 

f  5  American  State  Papers,  546. 

j  American  State  Papers,  vol.  5,  page  546. 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  85 

negroes  under  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  *  In 
consideration  of  this  and  other  stipulations,  the  United  States 
covenanted  to  pay  the  Indians  six  thousand  dollars  in  goods,  and 
to  furnish  them  with  two  blacksmiths  and  strikers,  tools,  &c. 
It  should  also  be  understood,  that  at  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty, 
many  of  the  slaves  from  the  '  Upper  Creek  Towns  '  were  brought 
in,  and  delivered  to  the  officers  of  government,  who  acted  with 
the  Indians  as  the  assistant  catchpolls  of  Southern  slave- 
holders."! 

"  The  slaves  of  Georgia,  however,  continued  to  flee  from 
bondage,  and  to  seek  an  asylum  among  the  Indians ;  and  many 
who  had  left  prior  to  the  treaty  of  1790,  remained  in  the  Indian 
country,  intermarried  with  the  Seminoles,  or  '  Southern  Creeks/ 
and  became  permanently  incorporated  with  various  bands  known 
as  the  «  Florida  Indians.'  "  $ 

"  The  people  and  government  of  Georgia  were  constantly 
making  efforts  to  gel  the  United  Slates  to  obtain  a  return  of  the 
slaves  who  were  living  with  the  Indians  •  but  these  efforts  proved 
of  little  use,  as  the  Indians  neglected  to  restore  any  of  them.§ 
In  1802,  a  general  law  regulating  intercourse  between  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  Slates  and  the  Indian  tribes,  was  enacted  by 
Congress.  By  the  terms  of  this  law,  the  agent  for  paying  annu- 
ities was  authorized  to  retain  from  the  annuities  of  any  tribe,  the 
value  of  any  pro  pert}'  taken  from  the  white  people  by  Indians 
belonging  to  such  tribe. II  Under  this  law,  it  is  said,  that  a  com- 
pensation was  retained  by  the  agent  of  the  United  States,  for  all 
slaves  who  left  their  masters,  and  went  to  unite  with  the  Indians, 
subsequent  to  the  passage  thereof.  On  this  point  the  writer 
speaks  from  verbal  information,  and  not  from  official  documents. 
It  is,  however,  certain,  that  the  people  of  Georgia  could  neither 
get  the  negroes  who  had  left  their  masters  prior  to  the  passage 
of  the  law,  nor  could  they  obtain  compensation  for  their  loss. 
They  therefore  became  importunate  in  their  demands  upon  the 
Federal  Government,  to  interfere  more  effectually  for  the  protec- 
tion of  slavery  in  that  State.  The  Executive  finally  determined  to 
make  another  effort  to  aid  the  slave-holders  of  Georgia  in  obtaining 
their  slaves,  or  to  extort  from  the  Indians  a  compensation  for 
their  loss.^F  To  effect  this  object,  arrangements  were  made  by 
the  Executive  of  the  United  States  and  the  Executive  of  Geor- 
gia, for  negotiating  another  treaty  with  the  Indians;  at  the  mak- 
ing of  which,  the  State  of  Georgia  should  be  represented  by  her 
authorized  agents,  in  order  that  the  claims  of  her  slave-holders 
should  be  duly  regarded.**  Instructions  were  given  to  the  com- 

*  American  State  Papers,  vol.  5,  page  586.    Laws  U.  S.,  vol.  l,page  363. 

t  Vide  6  vol.  American  State  Papers,  page  252. 

t  House  Doc.  271,  1st  Ses.,  24ih  Congress. 

§5  American  State  Papers,  249. 

||  Laws  U.  S.,  2  vol.,  360. 

IT 6  American  State  Papers,  243,  257.     **  Ibid.,  p.  254. 

7 


86  FACTS    TOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

missioners,  who  negotiated  the  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  United 
Slates,  to  lend  to  the  ayenis  of  Georgia  every  aid  that  might  tend 
to  effect  the  objeel  of  iheir  mission/'  * 

"The  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and 
those  on  the  part  of  Georgia,  met  the  chiefs,  warriors  and  head 
men  of  the  Creeks,  at  '  Indian  Spring,*  about  the  25ih  Decem- 
ber, 1821.  On  the  27th,  the  commissioners  of  Georgia  delivered 
their  talk  to  the  Indians,  in  which  they  assured  the  Indians,  that 
lin  order  to  keep  the  chain  of  friendship  bright  between  the  white  and 
red  people,  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  do  JUSTICE  TO  EACH 
OTHER/  They  then  reminded  the  Indians  of  their  stipulation  to 
return  negroes,  contained  in  the  treaties  of  New  York  and  Cole- 
raine,  and  delivered  to  the  Indians  a  list  of  their  claims. f  The 
next  day,  Gen.  Mclniosh,  principal  chief,  replied,  that  '  he  did 
not  know  that  he  was  called  here  to  answer  for  the  claims  of 
Georgia,  until  they  had  received  the  talk  of  the  commissioners 
yesterday,  —  that  most  of  the  items  he  knew  nothing  about/ 
That  Gen.  McGilvery,  who  negotiated  the  treaty  of  New  York 
more  than  thirty  years  before,  when  he  returned,  informed  their 
people  that  they  were  to  deliver  up  the  negroes  then  in  the  nation  ; 
but  they  were  not  to  be  liable  for  any  that  were  dead  or  removed. 
That  many  of  them  were  collected  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of 
Coleraine,  and  delivered  to  the  agent  of  the  United  States.  That 
others  were  subsequently  delivered  to  Col.  Hawkins,  who  never 
mentioned  to  them  any  claim  under  the  treaty  of  Coleraine,  but 
mentioned  that  of  New  York.  That  many  of  the  negroes  had 
been  carried  away  by  the  British  at  the  close  of  the  war,  that  in 
1816,  many  of  these  negroes  were  in  the  fort  on  the  Apalachicola 
river ;  that  most  of  them  were  killed,  and  those  that  were  not 
killed  were  delivered  to  Colonel  Clinch,  —  and  many  of  the  ne- 
groes had  gone  into  Florida  among  the  Seminoles.  That  he  had 
himself,  with  his  warriors,  joined  Gen.  Jackson's  army,  and  gone 
with  them  into  Florida,  where  they  took  some  of  those  negroes, 
and  delivered  them  to  the  agent  of  the  United  States ;  and  that 
others  still  remained  among  the  Seminoles.  That  if  ihe  Presi- 
dent admitted  that  country  to  belong  to  the  Creeks,  he  would 
take  his  warriors  and  go  and  bring  up  as  many  as  they  could  get, 
arid  deliver  them  up  to  the  United  States.  He  thought  the 
Creeks  had  fairly  complied  with  their  treaties  in  good  faith. ?;$ 

"  In  reply  to  this,  the  commissioners  of  Georgia  insisted  that 
the  Indians  ought  to  pay  for  the  negroes  carried  away  by  the 
British  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  for  those  among  the  Semi- 
noles, '  and  for  the  increase  of  all  that  had  taken  up  their  residence 
among  the  Indians.''  This  demand  was  rejected  by  the  Indians. 
It  was,  however,  agreed  to  refer  all  the  claims  of  Georgia  against 
the  Indians  to  the  President,^  and  a  stipulation  was  made  in  the 

*  6  American  State  Papers,  250.  f  Ibid.,  p.  251.  J  Tbid.,  252.  §  Ibid., 
p.  256. 


FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE,  87 

treaty,  by  which  the  United  States  were  to  hold  $250,000  due 
from  the  United  States  to  the  Indians,  in  trust  for  the  payment  of 
such  claims  as  the  President  should  regard  just  and  proper.* 
The  President  took  upon  himself  the  discharge  of  thus  estimating 
the  value  of  the  slaves,  and  the  propriety  of  paying  for  their  in- 
crease. Commissioners  were  appointed  for  that  purpose,  who, 
after  full  examination,  estimated  the  amount  that  should  be  paid 
to  the  slave-holders  of  Georgia,  in  full  of  all  demands,  at  $101,- 
000.  This  sum,  according  to  the  report  of  Mr.  Wirl,  Attorney 
General  of  the  United  Stales,  was  made  up  by  estimating  the 
price  of  the  negroes  at  two  or  three  times  their  real  value.f  This 
money  being  paid  over  to  the  owners  of  slaves,  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  government  $149,000  belonging  to  the  Indians.  That 
amount  was  retained  by  government  for  some  years,  until  the 
owners  of  slaves  having  already  received  two  or  three  times 
their  real  value,  petitioned  Congress  to  distribute  the  remaining 
sum  among  them  as  an  additional  compensation.  Congress 
made  the  appropriation,  and  t'he  money  was  paid  to  them,  and 
the  Indians  were  thus  defrauded  by  the  General  Government  of 
$  149, 000,  in  order  to  enrich  the  slave-holders  of  Georgia,  in 
addition  to  paying  two  or  three  times  the  real  value  of  the 
negroes.''  J 

*'  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  these  things  were  trans- 
acted at  a  period  when  all  Southern  statesmen  very  correctly 
denied  that  '  Congress  or  the  Federal  Government  possessed  any 
powers  whatever  in  relation  to  slavery,1*  During  a  period  of  more 
than  thirty  years  was  the  influence  of  the  Federal  Government 
exerted  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  these  fugitive  slaves,  or  ia 
extorting  from  the  Indians  a  compensation  for  their  owners.  The 
Senate  were  called  upon  to  approve  those  treaties.  Congress  was 
called  on  to  pass  laws,  and  to  appropriate  money  to  carry  those 
treaties  into  effect,  and  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  pay  the 
money  and  bear  the  disgrace,  in  order  that  slavery  may  be  sus- 
tained. But  the  consequences  of  these  efforts  still  continue,  and 
the  government  has  to  this  day  been  unable  to  extricate  itself 
from  the  difficulties  into  which  these  exertions  in  behalf  of 
slavery  precipitated  it.  And  the  people  of  the  free  States  are  to 
this  day  taxed  and  dishonored,  in  consequence  of  these  violations 
of  their  constitutional  rights.  These  facts  will  be  more  fully  illus- 
trated when  we  examine  our  subsequent  relations  with  the  Semi- 
noles  and  Creeks.  But  we  wilt  now  look  to  our  separate  treaties 
uith  the  Scmmole  Indians." 

u  The  first  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  these  Indians 
bears  date  at  '  Camp  Moultrie,'  September  l$th,  1823.  By  this 
treaty  the  United  States  agreed  to  pay  them  $6.000,  and  an  an- 
nuity of  five  thousand  for  twenty  years;  besides  $1,000  yearly 

*  6  American  State  Papers,  249. 

t  Ex.  Doc.,  1st  Sea.,  26ih  Congress,  voLtf,  No.  123. 

$  Laws  U.S.,  9  vol.,  117. 


88  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

for  twenty  years,  to  be  expended  in  the  support  of  a  school,  and 
the  like  sum  for  the  same  period  to  be  expended  in  the  support 
of  a  gun  and  blacksmith.*' 

'*  By  the  7th  article  of  said  treaty,  the  Indians  obligated  them- 
selves lto  be  vigilant  and  active  in  preventing  the  retreating  to  or 
passing  through,  the  district  of  country  assigned  them,  of  any  ab- 
sconding slaves  or  fugitives  from  justice.'  They  further  stipulated 
'to  use  all  necessary  exertions  to  apprehend  and  deliver  such 
fugitive  slaves  to  the  agent  of  the  United  States.7  "  # 

"  Before  we  proceed  further,  it  will  be  well  to  caution  the 
reader  to  bear  in  mind  the  historical  fact,  that,  prior  to  the  mak- 
ing of  this  treaty  with  the  Seminole  Indians  in  1823,  they  had 
been  regarded  as  a  portion  of  the  Creek  tribe,  from  whom 
they  separated,  and  were  therefore  called  '  Seminoles,'"  or  c  run- 
aways.' It  has  already  been  stated  that  a  large  portion  of  these 
slaves  who  had  left  Georgia  prior  to  1802,  had  united  with  these 
bands  of  Seminoles,  had  intermarried,  and  become  incorporated 
•with  them.  They  had  been  paid  for  by  the  Creeks  at  the  rate 
of  five  or  six  times  their  real  value,  and  the  Creeks  having  paid 
their  money  for  them,  sent  their  agents  among  the  Seminoles  to 
demand  them  as  slaves,  not  doubting  that  they  had  derived  a 
good  title  to  them  and  their  offspring,  from  the  Govern ment  of 
the  United  States. f  Bat  the  Seminoles,  unwilling  to  surrender 
their  wives  and  children  to  the  Creeks,  and  being  vexed  and 
harassed  with  these  and  other  demands  made  upon  them  for 
slaves,  were  induced  to  enter  into  the  treaty  of  *'  Payne's  Land- 
ing,' in  May,  1832,  by  which  they  stipulated  to  remove  West, 
and  re-unite  with  the  Creeks.  The  7th  article  of  that  treaty  is 
in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  The  Seminoles,  being  anxious  to  be  relieved  from  repeated 
vexatious  demands  for  slaves,  (and  other  property  allege*!  to 
have  been  stolen  or  destroyed  by  them,)  so  that  they  may  remove 
unembarrassed  to  their  new  homes,  the  United  States  stipulate 
to  have  the  same  properly  investigated,  and  to  liquidate  such  as 
may  be  satisfactorily  established,  provided  the  amount  does  not 
exceed  seven  thousand  dollars. >;>:j: 

"  The  Creeks,  however,  were  not  satisfied  with  this  arrange- 
ment, but  continued  to  press  the  Seminoles  to  surrender  their 
•wives  and  children,  as  the  property  of  the  Creeks." 

"  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  Seminoles  had  agreed  in  the 
treaty  to  remove  West,  and  to  re-unite  with  the  Creeks.  But  to 
emigrate  under  such  circumstances  would  be  to  place  them- 
selves in  the  power  of  the  Creeks,  who  would  thus  gain  posses- 
sion of  those  whom  they  claimed  as  slaves,  but  who  were  in 
truth  wives  and  children  of  the  Seminoles.  They  therefore  pre- 
ferred to  remain  and  fight  the  whites,  rather  than  go  to  the  west, 

*  Vide  treaty,  7  vol.,  U.  S.  Laws,  708. 

fVide  Report  of  Wiley  Thompson,  agent  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Seminole  Indians,  E.  Doc.  125,  3d  Session,  25th  Congress. 
J  See  Treaty  of «  Payne's  Landing,  9  vol.,  U.  S.  Laws,  1240. 


FA'CTS   FOR   THE    PEOPLE,  $$ 

and  permit  their  wives  and  children  to  become  slaves.  They 
were,  however,  overpowered,  and  compelled  to  emigrate.  But 
when  carried  west  of  Arkansas,  they  dared  riot  go  into  the  Creek 
country,  but  settled  down  upon  the  territory  belonging  to  the 
Cherokees.  Here  they  remained.  The  Cherokees  protested 
against  this  act  of  the  Seminoles.  The  Creeks  were  anxious  to 
have  the  Seminoles  remove  within  their  jurisdiction,  in  order  to 
get  their  slaves,  which  they  had  purchased  so  dearly  of  the 
Federal  Government,  while  the  Seminoles  dared  not  place  them- 
selves in  the  power  of  the  Creeks^  and  during  several  years  this 
triangular  contention  kept  those  tribes  in  a  state  of  turmoil, 
and  almost  constantl}'  threatened  them  and  the  United  States 
with  war.  This  state  of  things  was  wholly  brought  abuut  by  the 
efforts  of  our  government  to  obtain  pay  for  the  fugitive  slaves  of 
Georgia.  The  Executive  was  not  an  idle  spectator  of  these  facts. 
Efforts  were  constantly  made  to  arrange  the  difficulty,  but  with* 
out  success,  until  December  last,  when  it  is  said  that  a  treaty 
was  effected  between  the  United  States  on  one  part,  the  Chero- 
kees of  another  part,  the  Creeks  of  another  part,  and  the  Semi- 
noles of  the  fourth  part.  We  are  entirely  indebted  to  reports 
communicated  through  the  public  press,  and  received  from  offi* 
cers  of  government,  in  respect  to  this  treaty  and  its  terms.  It 
has  not  been  officially  made  known  to  the  people.  But  so  far 
as  we  are  able  to  learn,  the  treaty  provides  :  1.  That  the  Semi- 
noles shall  leave  the  Cherokee  lands,  and  shall  settle  upon  the 
tract  assigned  to  the  Creeks.  2.  Their  wives  and  children  arid 
husbands  shall  remain  free.  3.  The  Seminoles  shall  pay  to  the 
Creeks,  for  their  wives,  husbands,  and  children,  such  sums  as 
shall  be  awarded  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  The 
first  and  last  treaty  with  those  southern  Indians  were  negotiated 
for  the  benefit  of  slavery  ;  indeed,  most  of  our  treaties  with  them 
since  1789,  have  contained  some  provisions  for  the  benefit  of  the 
slave-holding  interest."  —  Rights  of  the  free  States  subverted,  by 
J.  R.  Giddings. 

Soon  after  the  last  war  with  England  in  1815,  the  fugitive 
slaves  began  to  assemble  on  the  east  side  of  the  Apalachicola 
river,  about  fifteen  miles  from  its  mouth.  Here  they  erected  a 
mud  fort,  collected  provisions,  cleared  plantations,  and  com- 
menced the  business  of  farming.  "They  soon  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  slave-holders,  who  became  alarmed  at  these  in- 
dications of  freedom.  Reports  were  made  to  the  President,  of 
the  dangerous  character  of  these  fugitives."  —  Dangerous,  be- 
cause they  were  demonstrating  to  the  world,  that  by  honest  in- 
dustry, they  were  abundantly  able  to  "  take  care  of  themselves." 
"  Their  sole  object  was  to  live  in  the  quiet  and  peaceful  enjoy- 
ment of  freedom.  Military  officers  of  the  United  States  directed 
7* 


90  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

their  attention  to  this  state  of  things  ;  and  a  correspondence  oc- 
cupying many  pages  in  regard  to  this  settlement,  may  be  found 
among  the  executive  documents  of  the  2d  session  of  the  loth 
Congress."  In  a  letter  of  Com.  Patterson  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  relating  to  the  destruction  of  this  fort,  dated  August  15th, 
1816,  he  says: 

"  The  forces  were  daily  increasing,  and  they  felt  themselves 
BO  strong  and  secure,  that  they  had  commenced  several  planta- 
tions on  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Apalachicola,  which  would  have 
yielded  them  every  article  of  sustenance,  and  which  would  con- 
sequently in  a  short  time  have  rendered  their  establishment 
quite  formidable,  and  highly  injurious  to  the  neighboring 
states."  * 

"  On  the  15th  of  March.  1816,  Mr.  Crawford,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  issued  orders  to  General  Jackson,  directing  him  to  notify 
the  Commander  of  Pensacola  that  such  a  fort  existed  ;  '  and  was 
occupied  by  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred  negroes, 
who  inveigled  the  slaves  from  the  frontier  of  Georgia;  arid  that 
if  it  should  be  determined  that  the  subject  did  not  require  the 
interference  of  Congress,  measures  would  be  taken  for  its  de- 
struction.' General  Jackson  issued  orders  to  General  Gaines 
'  to  destroy  the  fort,  and  to  restore  the  negroes  to  their  owners.7 
General  Gaines  issued  his  orders  to  Col.  Clinch,  who  advanced 
within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  fort,  and  attempted  a  cannonade,  but 
appears  to  have  failed  in  making  any  impression  upon  it.  At 
the  same  time,  Commodore  Patterson  had  despatched  two  gun- 
boats for  the  reduction  of  this  fortress.  They  ascended  the  river, 
look  their  position  opposite  the  fort,  and,  by  firing  hot  shot,  blew 
it  up.  There  were  about  two  hundred  and  eighty  negroes,  in- 
cluding women  and  children,  in  the  fort,  together  with  some 
twenty  Indians.  Of  the  whole  number,  two  hundred  and  seventy 
were  killed,  and  several  others  mortally  wounded."  f 

"  Among  them,  were  some  of  those  fugitives  who  had  left 
their  masters  in  Georgia,  prior  to  1790,  and  for  whom  the  Creek 
Indians  subsequently  paid  four  or  five  times  their  real  value,  as 
heretofore  shown.  Those  who  were  neither  killed  nor  mortally 
wounded,  were  seized  by  our  troops,  and  restored  to  their  mas- 
ters. $  No  act  or  offence  against  the  United  States  is  alleged 
against  these  people,  except  that  they  fled  from  slavery.  For 
that  alone  they  were  thus  murdered  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. 

"  The  deep  damnation  of  their  taking  off," 

rests  on  the  people  of  the  free,  as  well  as  of  the  slave  States."  — 
Rights  of  the  free  States  subverted. 

*  St.  Pap.  Ses.  15th  Cong.,  v.  6,  No.  119,  p.  12. 
f  See  Com.  Patterson's  Report,  2d  Ses.,  15th  Cong. 
i  See  Ex.  Doc.  2d  Ses.,  15th  Cong. 


FACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  91 

In  the  letter  of  Com.  Patterson  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
above  referred  to,  he  says  : 

"The  service  rendered  by  the  destruction  of  this  fort,  and  the 
band  of  negroes  who  held  it,  is  of  great  and  manifest  importance 
to  those  Slates  bordering  on  the  Creek  nation,  as  it  had  become 
the  general  rendezvous  of  runaway  slaves,  —  an  asylum  where 
they  were  assured  of  being  received." 

And  this  "  Democratic  and  Christian  NATION,"  was  so  well 
pleased  with  this  unprovoked  and  cold  blooded  butchery,  that  in 
1829,  thirteen  years  afterwards,  Congress  voted  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  officers  and  crews  of  these  gun-boats. 

PURCHASE  OF  FLORIDA. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  Florida  at  this  lime  constituted  no 
part  of  the  Uniled  States.  It  was  a  province  of  Spain,  inhabited 
and  governed  by  Spaniards.  True,  it  was  a  slave-holding  prov- 
ince; but  slavery  under  the  government  of  monarchial  Spain, 
was  quite  a  different  thing  from  slavery  in  republican  America. 

In  Judge  Stroud's  work  on  slavery,  we  find  the  following  : 
"The  indulgent  treatment  of  their  slaves,  by  which  the  Span- 
iards are  so  honorably  distinguished,  and  the  ample  and  humane 
code  of  laws  which  they  have  enacted,  and  also  enforce,  for  the 
protection  of  the  blacks,  both  bond  and  free,  occasion  many  of 
the  Indian  slaves  of  East  Florida,  who  were  apprehensive  of 
falling  into  the  power  of  Ihe  Americans;  and  also  most  of  the 
free  people  of  color  who  resided  at  St.  Augustine,  to  transport 
themselves  to  Havana,  on  the  approach  of  the  American  author- 
ities ;"#  (i.  e.,  to  take  possession  of  the  territory  after  its  pur- 
chase.) 

The  Indians  also,  who  knew  little  of  republicanism,  less  of 
"  our  holy  religion,"  arid  who  were  not  much  better  acquainted 
with  our  "  free  instilutions,"  treated  their  slaves  as  brethren.  In 
a  letter  of  Gen.  Thompson,  dated  April  27,  1835,  he  says  : 

"The  negroes  in  the  nation  DREAD  the  idea  of  being  sold 
from  their  present  state  of  ease  and  comparative  liberty  to  bond- 
age arid  hard  labor  under  overseers  on  sugar  and  cotton  planta- 
tions. They  have  always  had  a  great  influence  on  the  Indians. 
An  Indian  would  almost  as  soon  sell  his  child  as  his  slave." 

*  Laws  relating  to  Slavery,  p.  101. 


92  FACTS   FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

The  barbarous  murder  on  the  banks  of  the  Apalachicola, 
aroused  in  the  negroes  and  Indians  a  feeling  of  hostility  to  the 
Americans;  and  the  mild  treatment  which  they  received  from 
the  Spaniards,  tended  to  foster  this  feeling ;  so  that  the  slaves 
were  not  a  whit  more  in  love  with  their  Georgian  masters,  nor 
any  the  less  inclined  to  run  away  from  them  ;  nor  were  the  Indians 
any  the  less  willing  to  receive  them  kindly  in  consequence  of 
this  fiendish  slaughter.  And  the  slaves  of  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama still  continued  to  run  away  from  the  Christian  barbarism 
of  those  States,  and  to  find  an  asylum  in  the  humanity  of  the 
Semiriole  savages.  This  asylum  our  Government  was  deter- 
mined to  destroy.  Accordingly,  "  the  villages  of  these  fugitives 
were  burned,  their  plantations  laid  waste,  their  corn  and  other 
provisions  used  for  the  support  of  the  army ;  and  they,  together 
with  the  Indians,  dispersed  into  various  parts  of  the  territory,  to 
avoid  the  vengeance  of  the  Americans."  John  Lee  Williams,  in 
his  u  Florida,"  published  in  1837,  though  evidently  disposed  to 
conceal  the  worst  part  of  the  truth,  says  :  —  u  Great  exertions  have 
been  made  to  get  the  Indian  negroes  away  by  false  claims ;  and 
many  negroes  have  been  taken  away  by  force  and  fraud" 

"  This  was  effected  by  a  wanton  invasion  of  a  territory  belong- 
ing to  a  friendly  power.  When  lhat  power  refused  to  surrender 
her  fortifications,  on  demand  of  our  troops,  our  guns  were  turned 
upon  them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  submit. 

When  our  commanding  officer  was  called  to  an  account  for 
these  violations  of  faith,  with  a  power  at  peace  with  us,  he  re- 
plied, that '  these  fortifications  had  become  the  rendezvous  for  embody- 
ing hostile  negroes  and  Indians,  and  giving  them  comfort  and  pro- 
tection?* and  no  further  inquiries  were  made  upon  the  subject." 

But  lest  these  continued  acts  of  aggression  should  involve  us 
in  serious  difficulties  with  Spain  ;  and  in  order  to  obtain  greater 
facilities  for  slave  hunting,  after  protracted  negotiations,  Florida 
was  purchased  in  1819,  at  an  expense  to  the  people  of  five  mil- 
lions of  dollars;  and  the  territory  was  brought  under  "republi- 
can "  government.  The  lands  wero  comparatively  worthless. 
General  Jesnp  informed  us,  uthat  they  would  not  pay  for  the  med- 
icines used  by  our  troops  while  removing  the  Indians;"  and  the 
government  of  the  territory  has  probably  cost  twenty  times  the 

*  See  General  Jackson's  Memorial  to  the  Senate,  Feb.  23,  1820. 


TACTS   FOR   THE   PEOPLE.  93 

amount  of  revenue  received  from  it.*  But  then  the  nation  got 
the  hunting-ground,  which  was  the  sole  object  of  the  purchase  j 
and  after  securing  its  title  deed,  and  taking  formal  possession  of 
the  country,  the  next  step  was  to  break  up  the  asylum  of  the  fu- 
gitive slaves  by  exterminating  the  Seminoles.  This  scheme  was 
at  length  accomplished  by  means  of 


THE  SECOND  SEMINOLE  OR  "FLORIDA  WAR/3 

The  reader  will  recollect,  that  by  the  treaty  of"  Payne's  Land- 
ing," entered  into  in  1832,  the  Seminoles  agreed  to  emigrate 
West,  and  re-unite  with  the  Creeks ;  and  that  they  refused  to  go 
lest  their  wives  and  children  should  be  taken  from  them  by  the 
Creeks  and  held  as  slaves.  The  people  of  Florida,  however, 
were  anxious  to  rid  their  territory  of  them  ;  and  a  large  number 
of  the  principal  inhabitants  joined  in  a  petition  to  the  President 
for  their  removal,  in  which  they  declare,  that 

"  While  this  indomitable  people  continue  where  they  now  are, 
the  owners  of  slaves  in  our  territory,  and  even  in  the  States  con- 
tiguous, cannot  for  a  moment,  in  anything  like  security,  enjoy , 
this  kind  of  properly." 

uThe  President  referred  the  memorial  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  he  called  upon  the  asent  of  the  United  States,  then 
with  the  Seminoles,  for  information.  The  agent,  (General  Wiley 
Thompson,)  replied,  that  'the  principal  causes  which  operate  to 
cherish  this  feeling  hostile  to  emigration  are,  first,  the  fear  that 
their  re-union  with  the  Creeks,  which  will  subject  ihem  to  the 
government  and  control  of  the  Creek  national  council,  will  be  a 
surrender  of  a  large  amount  of  negro  property  now  held  by  these 
people,  to  the  Creeks  as  an  antagonist  claimant ;  '  and  Gen. 
Thompson  further  adds:  'This  Creek  claim  to  negroes  now  in 
possession  of  the  Seminoles,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  first 
cause  of  hostility  to  the  emigration  of  the  latter  tribe,  grows  out 
of  the  treaty  of  1821,  between  the  United  States  and  the  form- 
e;.' ;;  f  —  Rights  of  the  free  States  subverted, 

After  receiving  this  important  information,  bur  army  was  or- 
dered to  that  territory  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  Indians 
to  emigrate.  On  the  27th  of  Jan.,  1835,  Gen.  Thompson  called  for 

*  In  1839,  Custom  house  officers  at  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Johns,  were 
paid  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  for  collecting  nothing. 

J.  R.  GlDDIHGS. 

t  See  House  Doc.  No.  274,  1st  Ses.  24th  Congress, 


94  FACTS   FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

more  troops,  and  the  war  began.     Hungry  men-stealers  snatched 
at  their  prey. 

The  Washington  correspondent  of  the  N.  Y.  Journal  of  Com- 
merce, June  3,  1836,  says  : 

**  It  was  stated  on  the  floor  of  Congress  and  uncontradicted, 
that  our  government  recognized  the  claim  of  the  slave-holders, 

and  SENT  AGENTS  TO  KIDNAP  THE    CHILDREN    OF  THE    SEMINOLES." 

They  seized  Oceola,  the  chief  of  the  Seminolee,  chained  him 
to  a  log,  tore  his  wife  from  him,  and  with  four  hundred  and  sixty 
others  adjudged  to  be  slaves  by  the  staff  officers,  delivered  her 
over  to  interminable  bondage.*  No  marvel  that  an  Indian  chief, 
as  he  looked  on  his  little  children  and  thought  of  their  stolen 
mother,  should  vow  vengeance  on  the  robbers. 

This  slave-hunt,  which  has  been  dignified  by  the  name  of 
"  war,"  was  continued  through  a  period  of  five  years.  It  was 
protracted  on  the  one  side  by  the  desperation  of  fugitives,  prefer- 
ring death  to  slavery  ;  and  on  theoiher  by  a  determination  to  an- 
nihilate those  who  gave  them  shelter  and  protection.  A  Mobile 
paper  of  March  28th,  1838,  says  : 

*c  It  is  the  power  to  entice  away  and  instruct  in  bushfighting  so 
many  of  our  slaves  that  we  would  wish  to  annihilate.  These 
Seminoles  cannot  remain  in  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  without 
threatening  the  internal  safely  of  the  South." 

Of  its  destruction  to  life,  the  Army  and  Navy  Chronicle  says  : 

*'  Apprised  as  we  have  been  of  the  deadly  service  in  Florida  in 
which  our  gallant  army  has  been,  since  1835,  engaged,  we  are 
not  a  little  SURPRISED  to  learn  the  great  mortality  among  its  offi- 
cers and  men." 

We  have  no  data  from  which  we  can  estimate  the  number  of 
lives  sacrificed  in  that  war ;  but  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  that 
the  capture  of  each  slave  cost  the  lives  of  two  white  men,  and  at 
least  eighty  thousand  dollars  in  cash.  The  whole  expense  of 
this  war  has  been  estimated  at  forty  millions  of  dollars. 

The  following  letter  from  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor  to  the  War 
Department,  will  illustrate  one  of  the  modern  modes  of  warfare, 
as  practiced  iu  the  United  States  of  America  in  the  nineteenth 
century : 

*  House  Doc.  52,  3d  Sea.  27th  Con. 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  95 

"  HEAD  QUARTERS.  ARMY  OF  THE  SOUTH,  ) 
Fort  Brook,  July  28,  1839.      J 

SIR  :  —  T  have  the  honor  to  enclose  you  a  communication,  this 
moment  received,  on  the  subject  of  procuring  blood-hounds  from 
the  Island  of  Cuba,  to  aid  the  army  in  its  operations  against  the 
hostiles  in  Florida.  lam  decidedly  in  favor  of '  the  measure,  and 
beg  leave  again  to  urge  it,  as  the  only  means  of  ridding  the  country 
of  the  Indians,  who  are  now  broken  up  into  small  parties  that  take 
shelter  in  swamps  and  hammocks  as  the  army  approaches,  making  it 
impossible  for  us  to  follow  or  overtake  them  without  the  aid  of  such 
auxiliaries. 

Should  this  measure  meet  the  approbation  of  the  Department, 
and  the  necessary  authority  be  granted,  I  will  open  a  correspon- 
dence on  the  subject  with  Mr.  Evertson,  through  Major  Hunt,  Assist- 
ant Quarter  Master  at  Savannah,  and  will  authorize  him,  if  it  can 
be  done  on  reasonable  terms,  to  employ  a  few  dogs,  with  persons  who 
understand  their  management. 

I  wish  it  distinctly  understood,  that  rny  object  in  employing 
dogs  is  only  to  ascertain  where  the  Indians  can  be  found,  not  to 
worry  them.  (!  !  !  ) 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient  servant, 

(Signed)  Z.  TAYLOR, 

Bt.  Br.  Gen.  U.  S.  A.  Commanding. 
To  Gen.  R.  JONES,  Washington,  D.  C." 

Tender-hearted  man!  He  wished  " only  to  ascertain  where 
the  Indians  were,  not  to  worry  them." 

Whether  they  were  "  worried"  or  not  the  reader  can  judge. 
The  hounds  were  procured  j  and  blood-hounds,  soldiers,  and  offi- 
cers marched  side  by  side  under  the  star  spangled  banner,  not  only 
in  pursuit  of  the  humane  Seminole,  but  the  panting  fugitive  also, 
who  had  fled  from  Southern  oppression.* 

The  English  nation  has  fixed  an  indelible  stain  on  its  char- 
acter, by  employing  the  Hessians  to  fight  against  the  Colonies 
in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  But  here  we  see  these  same  colo- 
nies, after  becoming  u  free  and  independent  States,"  and  after 
exhausting  their  own  ingenuity  as  well  as  their  military  prowess, 
in  hunting  down  and  catching  fugitive  slaves —  forming  an  alli- 
ance with  the  dogs  of  Cuba,  and  actually  running  and  fighting 
side  by  side  with  their  blood-hound  allies.  After  scouring  her 
plains  with  armed  men  and  blood-hounds,  and  either  slaughter- 
ing or  driving  from  her  borders  the  last  vestige  of  those  unfortu- 
nate red  men,  in  whose  bosoms  was  left  one  single  throb  of  pity 

*  House  Doc.  125,  3d  Session,  25th  Congress. 


96  FACTS    FOR   THE   PEOPLE. 

for  the  panting  fugitive,  Florida,  with  her  whips  and  chains  arid 
thumb-screws,  her  yokes  arid  gags  and  branding-irons  and 
trained  bull-dogs  and  hunters  of  men,  her  gory  hammocks  steam- 
ing in  the  sun,  the  bones  of  her  murdered  native  children  bleach- 
ing on  their  father's  graves,  or  rotting  amidst  the  blood  and  ashes 
of  their  conflagrated  homes,  with  hot  haste  —  after  two  hour's 
debate,  has  been  admitted  as  a  meet  co-partner  to  this  "great 
sisterhood  of  States !  "  She  stands  side  by  side  in  loving  fellow- 
ship with  Massachusetts;  and  Massachusetts  does  not  blush  at 
the  relationship ! 


TREATIES   AND   NEGOTIATIONS  WITH 
ENGLAND. 

During  our  two  wars  with  Great  Britain,  multitudes  of  slaves 
fled  from  their  masters,  and  sought  protection  under  the  British 
flag.  To  enable  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  number  that  escaped 
during  the  revolutionary  war,  we  insert  the  following  extract 
from  Ramsay's  History. 

«c  When  the  British  evacuated  Charleston,  S.  C.,  in  1782,  Gov- 
ernor Matthews  demanded  the  restoration  of  some  thousands  of 
negroes  who  were  within  their  lines.  ##*#*#•  These, 
however,  were' but  a  small  part  of  the  whole  taken  away  at  the 
evacuation,  but  that  number  is  very  inconsiderable  when  com- 
pared with  the  thousands  that  were  lost  from  the  first  to  the  last 
ot  the  war.  It  has  been  computed  by  good  judges,  that  between 
the  years  1775  and  1783,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  lost  TWEN- 
TY-FIVE THOUSAND  NEGROES."  [At  least  a  fifth  part  of  all  the 
slaves  in  the  State  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  See  page  30.]  — 
Ramsay's  Hist.  S.  C.  v.  1.  pp.  473-4. 

Col.  Lee  of  Virginia,  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  war  in  the  South- 
ern Department,  vol.  2,  p.  456.  says  : 

"  It  is  asserted  upon  the  authority  of  the  best  informed  citizens 
of  South  Carolina,  that  more  than  TWENTY  THOUSAND  slaves  were 
lost  to  the  State  in  consequence  of  the  war.;? 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  Secretary  of  State, 
to  Mr.  Hammond,  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  dated  Philadelphia, 
Dec.  15,  1791 : 

"  On  withdrawing  the  troops  from  New  York,  a  large  embarka- 
tion of  negroes,  the  property  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States,  took  place.  *  *  *  *  A  very  great  number  was  car- 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  97 

ried  off  in  private  vessels,  without  admitting  the  inspection  of  the 
American  Commissioners."  —  See  "Political  Correspondence," 
Papers  relative  to  Great  Britain,  p.  4. 

Strange  "Liberty''  that,  for  which  the  colonies  were  fighting! 
It  had  not  half  so  many  attractions  to  their  SLAVES,  as  the  "  tyran- 
ny "  against  which  they  were  contending. 

The  Virginia  and  Maryland  claimants  under  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  set  forth  that, 

"In  July  and  August,  1814,  the  enemy  made  several  land- 
ings on  the  northern  neck  of  Virginia.  On  a  sudden  an  order 
came,  that  all  the  troops  should  be  marched  to  the  defence  of 
Washington,  and  this  neck  of  eighteen  miles  wide,  was  emptied 
of  all  its  efficient  forces  for  nearly  six  weeks.  During  the  ab- 
sence of  the  forces  there  was  nothing  to  restrain  our  slaves,  and 
they  flocked  in  hundreds  to  the  enemy.1*'  See  their  memorial. — 
St.  Pap.,  2  Sess.,  20th  Cong.,  v.  5,  No.  190,  p.  4. 

To  enable  the  reader  to  form  some  estimate  of  the  number  of 
slaves  who  escaped  from  our  Democralic  liberty,  and  sought  a 
refuge  under  Monarchial  tyranny  during  the  last  war,  we  give 
the  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means,  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  Jan.  5,  1819. 

"  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  in  1815,  it  being  known  that 
MANY  THOUSANDS  of  the  slaves  of  our  citizens  had  been  carried 
off  by  the  Bii'ish  ships  of  war,"  &c.  —  Am.  St.  Pap.,  F.  Rel.,  v. 
4.,  p.  114. 

Also  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  John 
Quincy  Adams  to  Lord  Castlereah,  Feb.  12,  1816. 

"  In  his  letter  of  the  5th  September,  the  undersigned  had  the 
honor  of  enclosing  a  list  of  702  slaves  carried  away  after  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  of  peace  from  Cumberland  Island,  and 
the  waters  adjacent  ;###*##  a  number  perhaps 
still  greater  was  carried  away  from  Tangier  Island  in  the  State 
of  Virginia,  and  from  other  places."  —  Am.  St.  Pap.,  2d  Ses.}  16th 
Cong.,  No.  82,  p.  82. 

On  the  conclusion  of  peace  in  1815,  when  the  British  squadron 
embarked  from  the  Chesapeake  to  Bermuda,  they  took  with  them 
several  slaves  who  had  taken  refuge  on  board  their  ships. 
Tracking  the  scent  of  a  fugitive,  with  the  keenness  of  its  planta- 
tion dogs,  our  government  followed  in  their  wake.  An  agent 
was  hurried  off  to  Burmuda  to  demand  them  of  the  governor. 
When  the  agent,  Thomas  Spaulding,  appeared  before  that  dig- 
nitary, and  presented  his  request,  the  reply  of  the  Englishman  was 
8 


98  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

worthy  of  his  country  and  his  race  :  — <:  I  would  rather  that  Ber- 
muda, with  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  it,  were  sunk  under 
the  sea,  than  surrender  up  a  single  slave  who  had  sought  pro- 
tection under  the  flag  of  England." 

The  agent  then  applied  to  Admiral  Griffith,  commanding  on 
the  Bermuda  station  ;  and  promised  to  furnish  him  with  a  list  of 
each  slave  claimed,  which  he  expected  to  receive  in  a  few  days 
from  the  United  Slates.  The  Admiral  told  him,  that  he  need 
not  wait;  as  there  was  neither  at  Bermuda,  nor  any  other  British 
settlement,  any  authority  "  competent  to  deliver  up  persons, 
who,  during  the  late  wars,  had  placed  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  British  flag."  * 

From  Governors  and  Admirals,  our  government  next  applied 
to  the  British  Cabinet.  And  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  did 
the  official  slave-mongers  of  ''  this  great  Democratic  confedera- 
cy," ply  the  British  Government  with  its  diplomacy,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  compensation  for  its  runaway  slaves.  After  refer- 
ring the  subject  to  Russia,  at  the  request  of  the  Americans,  and 
holding  convention  after  convention,  for  the  adjustment  of  a  ques- 
tion ofsuch  vital  import  to  "  our  Republican  liberties,"  the  Biitish 
Cabinet,  wearied  with  the  importunities  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, and  sick  of  the  controversy,  entered  into  a  third  con- 
vention on  the  13th  of  November,  1836,  by  which  the  sum  of  one 
million  two  hundred  and  four  thousand  dollars  was  paid  over  to 
the  agents  of  this  slave-holding  government.! 

Every  body  knows  that  great  numbers  of  slaves  have  escaped 
from  "our  free  institutions,"  and  found  an  asylum  under  the 
British  Government,  in  Canada.  On  the  10th  of  May,  1828,  the 
House  of  Representatives,  by  resolution,  "  requested  the  Presi- 
dent to  open  negotiations  with  the  British  Government,  in  the 
view  to  obtain  an  arrangement,  whereby  fugitive  slaves,  who 
have  taken  refuge  in  Canada,  may  be  surrendered."  | 

But  the  Executive  had  anticipated  the  wishes  of  the  House; 
for  as  early  as  June  19,  1826,  Henry  Clay,  who  was  then  Secre- 
tary of  Stale,  wrote  a  letter  of  instructions  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  Min- 
ister to  Great  Britain,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 

"You  are  instructed  to  propose  a  stipulation  for  a  mutual  sur- 

*St.  Pap.,  14th  Cong.,  2nd  Ses.  Senate,  Dec.  No.  82. 
f  Laws  of  United  States,  vol.  8,  698. 
%  See  Journal  of  that  date. 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  99 

render  of  all  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  under  the  laws  of 
one  party,  who  escape  into  the  tenitories  of  the  other.  Our  ob- 
ject in  this  stipulation  is  to  provide  for  a  growing  evil.  Persons 
of  the  above  description  escape  principally  from  Virginia  and 
Kentucky,  into  Upper  Canada.  In  proportion  as  they  ares?/ ccess- 
fi.d  in  their  retreat  to  Canada,  will  ihe  number  of  fugitives  in  crease. 
The  motive  for  getting  them  back  is  the  desire  which  is  gener- 
ally felt  to  prevent  the  example  of  the  fugitives  becoming  con- 
tagious.^ 

"  The  States  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  are  particularly  anxious 
on  this  subject.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  latter  has  upcat- 
cdly  invoked  the  interposition  of  the  United  States  Government 
with  Great  Britain.  You  will  therefore  PRESS  the  matter.7'* 

This  subject  was  pressed  by  our  Minister,  until  he  was  distinctly 
told,  "that  such  an  arrangement  on  the  part  of  Great  Biitain  was 
impossible."  "  That  ihe  laws  of  Parliament  gave  freedom  to  every 
slave  who  should  land  on  British  ground." 

In  1843,  several  slaves  escaped  from  Florida,  and  fled  to  the 
Island  of  New  Providence.  An  agent  was  sent  to  that  Island  to 
demand  them  of  the  governor.  An  officer,  and  a  detachment  of 
the  crew  of  one  of  our  ships  of  war,  together  with  the  United 
States'  Revenue  Cutter,  Nautilis,  were  also  employed  in  an  un- 
successful attempt  to  catch  these  slaves,  and  drag  them  back  to 
their  republican  chains  and  whipping  posts. 

"In  1831,  'The  Comet,' a  slave-ship  from  Alexandria,  for  New 
Orleans,  was  wrecked  on  the  Island  of  Abaco,  and  her  slaves 
and  crew  were  taken  to  Nassau,  in  the  Island  of  New  Provi- 
dence. The  Island  being  under  British  laws,  the  slaves  were  of 
course  free  as  soon  as  they  landed  <,n  the  British  territory.  They 
had  been  free  under  our  laws,  from  the  moment  they  were  a 
league  from  our  coast.  Thus  the  reader  will  see  that  by  the 
laws  of  both  nations  they  were  freemen.  Bnt  the  slave  mer- 
chants, finding  themselves  unable  to  control  the  movements  of 
their  human  cargo,  called  upon  the  authorities  of  the  Island  for 
assistance,  to  aid  them  in  holding  their  fellow-men  in  subjection. 
But.  there  being  no  law  there,  by  which  one  foreigner  could 
control  the  liberty  of  another,  all  aid  was  refused,  and  the  slave- 
mongers  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  claimed  the  assist- 
ance of  the  National  Government  to  aid  them  in  carrying  out 
their  attempted  speculation  in  human  flesh,  by  demanding  of  the 
British  Government  a  compensation  for  their  loss." 

"  In  1833,  the  brig  '  Encomium,'  fiom  Charleston  for  New 
Orleans,  wiih  slaves,  was  wrecked  near  Abaco.  and  her  slaves 
obtained  their  liberty  the  same  way." 

*  St.  Pap.,  2d  Ses.,  20  Cong.,  vol.  I.,  No.  10. 


100  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

(t  In  1835,  (  The  Enterprise,'  another  slave-ship,  was  driven  into 
Bermuda,  a  British  port,  by  stress  of  weather,  and  her  slaves 
were  also  liberated  by  the  force  of  British  laws." 

"  These  repeated  losses  alarmed  the  slave  merchants,  and 
threatened  seriously  to  affect  the  proe-pecis  of  those  who  were 
engaged  in  breeding  slaves  for  market.  The  Executive  entered 
upon  the  subject  with  great  zeal  and  energy.  Instructions  were 
sent  to  our  minister  at  London,  directing  him  to  make  demand 
of  the  British  Government  for  reparation  to  the  slave  merchants 
who  owned  these  cargoes  of  human  beings.  Not  because  the 
British  Government  or  any  subject  of  the  British  Crown  had 
gained  anything  in  consequence  of  these  persons  having  obtained 
their  freedom;  but  because  the  slave-dealers  had  sustained  a 
loss,  in  consequence  of  the  English  Government  not  having  en- 
acted laws  authorizing  the  American  slave-trade.  He  was  in- 
formed that  this  feature  of  the  British  laws  '  was  too  dangerous  to 
a  large  section  of  our  country  to  be  tolerated.'  The  demand  was 
made,  arid  as  our  minister  was  himself  an  extensive  slave-hold- 
er, he  entered  upon  the  subject  with  so  much  zeal,  that  his  as- 
sertions were  soon  carried  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  truth.  In  an 
official  communication  lo  Lord  Palmerston,  he  declared  that  our 
'  Government  had  more  than  once,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  deter- 
mined that  slaves  killed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  even  in  a 
state  of  war,  were  to  be  regarded  as  property,  and  not  us  persons, 
and  the  government  held  responsible  for  them.7  By  means  of  the 
most  unceasing  energy,  and  misrepresentations  on  the  part  of 
our  minister,  the  British  Government  were  induced  to  pay  over 
to  our  Executive  the  sum  of  £25,000  sterling,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  claimed  to  own  persons  on  board  '  the  Comet '  and 
(  the  Encomium.7  These  vessels  were  wrecked,  and  the  per- 
sons on  board  obtained  their  liberty  prior  to  the  taking  effect  of 
the  general  emancipation  act,  which  liberated  the  slaves  in  the 
British  West  India  Islands.  But  the  'Enterprise'  had  entered 
Bermuda  after  the  taking  effect  of  that  law,  and  the  British  Min- 
isters refused  all  compensation  to  the  slave  owners  on  board  that 
ship.  Partial  success,  however,  stimulated  the  Executive  to  a 
more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  claims  of  the  unfortunate  slave- 
dealers  who  owned  the  cargo  of  the  '  Enterprise.'  Fresh  instruc- 
tions were  sent  to  our  minister  at  London  ;  and  to  aid  the  Exe- 
cutive with  the  influence  of  the  Senate,  resolutions  declaring  the 
law  of  nations  to  authorize  a  slave-ship  when  driven  by  stress  of 
weather  to  enter  the  port  of  a  friendly  power,  arid  to  hold  control  of 
the  slaves  on  board  until  she  can  refit,  were  introduced  into  the 
Senate  by  the  Hon.  J.  C.  Calhoun  ;  and  although  their  fallacy  was 
apparent  to  every  county  court  lawyer,  yet  they  were  adopted 
by  the  Senate  without  a  dissenting  voice.  Most  of  the  Senators 
from  free  States,  however,  refused  to  vote,*  To  aid  the  Execu- 

*  See  Senate  Jour.,  1st  Ses.,  26th  Cong, 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  101 

live  still  further,  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  made  a  report,  ia  which  this  subject  was  men- 
tioned, and  an  allusion  was  made  to  the  unpleasant  consequen- 
ces which  would  follow  a  final  rejection  of  the  demand  by  Great 
Britain."* 

While  this  was  the  state  of  diplomatic  correspondence  be- 
tween the  two  governments,  the  '  Hermosa,'  another  slave-ship, 
was  wrecked,  and  her  slaves  obtained  their  freedom  in  the  same 
manner  as  those  on  board  the  other  ships.  In  October,  1842, 
soon  after  the  wreck  of  the  Hermosa,  the  Creole  left  Richmond, 
Va.,  foi  New  Orleans,  with  slaves  on  board.  While  at  sea,  the 
slaves  rose  upon  the  crew,  killed  one  of  them,  and  took  the  ship 
to  Nassau,  and,  leaving  her  to  the  control  of  her  captain,  they 
went  on  shore  in  puisuit  of  their  own  happiness.  These  circurn 
stances  appear  to  have  aroused  the  whole  slave-holding  interest. 
Instructions  were  again  transmitted  to  our  minister  at  London, 
and  he  was  exhorted  to  press  the  demand  upon  the  British  Gov- 
ernment for  compensation  for  the  slaves  on  board  those  ships. 
The  Senate  called  for  the  correspondence,  discussion  ensued, 
in  which  grave  Senators  threatened  destruction  to  those  Islands 
if  compensation  were  not  granted  to  the  slave  merchants  who 
had  thus  lost  their  cargoes  of  slaves." 

On  this  subject  Mr.  King  said,  u  If  such  outrages  continue, 
nothing  could  prevent  a  collision ;  and  unless  the  Biiiish  Gov- 
ernment should  retrace  her  steps,  war  must  inevitably  ensue" 

Mr.  Calhoun,  "hoped  the  citi/ens  would  know  what  protection 
this  government  could  extend  to  their  property.  And  it  we  can- 
not obtain  justice,  every  man  with  an  American  heart  in  his 
bosom,  will  be  ready  to  raise  his  hand  against  oppression.^ 

Mr.  Barrow  said,  lhat  "  if  these  contemptible  British  subjects 
at  Nassau,  are  permitted  to  go  on  in  this  way,  seizing  by  force 
of  arms,  and  liberating  slaves  belonging  to  American  citizens, 
the  South  would  be  compelled  to  fit  out  an  armament  and  de- 
stroy those  towns." 

Such  was  the  "outburst  of  indignant  feeling,"  in  the  legisla- 
ture of  ';  the  Jreest  Nation  on  Earth,''  when  intelligence  reached 
the  Capitol,  that  a  cargo  of  their  slaves  had  obtained  their  free- 
dom, by  landing  within  the  limits  of  a  Monarchial  govern- 
ment. 

ATTEMPT  TO  OBTAIN  FUGITIVE  SLAVES  FROM 
MEXICO. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  which  have  crowned  its  endeavors 
to  induce  the  British  Government  to  become  the  catchpolls  to 
the  slave-holders,  this  government  next  tried  to  seduce  the  Mex- 

*  See  Jour.  H.  Rep.,  2il  Ses.,  26th  Cong. 
8* 


102  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

leans  from  their  allegiance  to  the  principles  of  freedom,  and  to 
persuade  them  to  act  the  part  of  watch-dogs  to  the  plantations  of 
the  South-western  slave-holding  Stales.  Hardly  had  Mexico  be- 
come a  nation,  when  the  subject  was  brought  before  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  —  that  great  palladium  of  slavery.  As  an  entering 
wedge,  on  the  18th  Dec.,  1826,  Mr.  Brent  of  Louisiana,  offered 
the  following : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  Unied  States  be  requested 
to  inform  this  House  whether  any  measures  have  been  taken  to 
obtain  the  runaway  negro  slaves  from  Louisiana  and  elsewhere, 
which  have  taken  refuge  in  the  territories  of  Mexico."  * 

And  accordingly  a  treaty  was  negotiated  with  the  Mexican 
Minister  for  the  surrender  of  such  fugitive  slaves  as  might  seek 
a  refuge  on  the  soil  of  that  Republic.  But  the  treaty  was  re- 
jected by  the  Mexican  Congress,  which  denounced  slavery  as 
"  a  palpable  violation  of  the  first  principles  of  a  free  republic. " 

Upon  the  subject  of  this  refusal,  Mr.  Poiusett,  our  Minister  to 
Mexico,  made  to  his  government  the  following  commentary: 

"The  article  for  the  restoration  of  fugitive  slaves  was  rejected 
on  philanthropic  principles  altogether.  Such  are  most  likely  to 
influence  the  young  legislators  of  young  nations." 

The  nation  which  Mr.  Poinselt  had  "the  honor  to  represent," 
had  got  to  be  full  fifty  years  old  ;  —  man  grown,  for  an  individ- 
ual, but  for  a  nation,  it  was  still  in  its  swaddling  clothes.  But 
though  young  in  years,  it  was  hoary  in  crime,  and  bloody  with 
guilt.  Arid  this  was  doubtless  the  reason  of  its  putting  on  such 
airs  of  superiority. 


SOUTHAMPTON  INSURRECTION. 

In  August,  1831.  a  few  slaves  in  the  upper  part  of  Southamp- 
ampton  county,  Virginia,  commenced  an  insurrection.  Their 
whole  numbers  perhaps  at  no  time  exceeded  one  hundred. 
When  the  news  reached  Norfolk,  the  authorities  of  that  city 
made  immediate  application  to  Col.  House,  then  commanding  at 
Fortress  Muriroe,  who,  at  six  o'clock  the  next  morning,  embarked 
on  board  a  steamboat  with  three  companies  of  United  States 
troops,  for  the  scene  of  action.  He  was  reinforced  by  a  detach- 
ment from  on  board  the  United  States  ships  Warren  arid  Natchez, 
amounting  in  all  to  about  three  hundred  men,  who  without  any 

*  Jour.  H.  R.  for  1826-7,  p.  70. 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  103 

authority  whatever,  thus  turned  out  to  suppress  the  efforts  of 
their  fellow-men,  who  were  exerting  themselves  to  attain  that 
liberty  for  which  so  much  blood  was  shed  during  the  war  of  our 
Revolution.  Their  efforts  to  regain  the  inalienable  rights  wilh 
which  God  had  endowed  them,  were  as  legal,  and  far  more  just 
and  holy,  than  those  of  Washington  and  his  associates  during 
the  Revolution;  inasmuch  as  they  fought  for  natuial  rights, 
while  our  fathers  contended  for  political  privileges.  Yet  so 
eager  were  these  officers  of  the  United  Slates  army  and  navy  to 
put  down  these  attempts  of  their  fellow-men  to  break  the  chains 
of  oppression,  that  they  waited  for  no  orders  or  directions  from 
proper  authority,  but,  in  violation  of  the  Constilution,  of  law,  and 
of  justice,  they  sought  to  kill  and  to  murder  those  who  were  seek- 
ing to  obtain  their  freedom."  * 


OTHER  ACTS  OF  CONGRESS- 

As  early  as  1790,  Congress  passed  a  naturalization  law,  pre- 
scribing the  mode  in  which  "  any  alien  being  a  WHITE  person  " 
might  be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  an  American  citizen. 

In  1792,  an  act  was  passed  for  organizing  the  militia,  providing 
that  "each  and  every  free,  able-bodied  WHITE  male  citizen," 
&c. 

No  other  nation  on  earth  prohibits  any  portion  of  its  citizens 
from  partaking  in  the  national  defence.  But  this  nation  enslaves 
its  colored  citizens,  sells  them  at  auction,  robs  them  of  wives, 
children,  homes;  of  everything  they  hold  dear;  —  scourges 
them  till  the  earth  is  watered  with  their  tears,  and  fattened  with 
their  blood.  And  it  may  be  that  the  fire  of  patriotism  burns  too 
dimly  on  the  *  altar  of  their  hearts,'  for  them  to  fight  very  bravely 
in  defence  of  such  a  country.  But  why  prohibit  those  who  might 
wish  to  fight,  but  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  degrading  dis- 
tinction'? 

The  fourth  section  of  the  act  of  1810,  organizing  the  Post- 
Office  department,  provides  that  "  no  other  than  a  free  WHITE 
person  shall  be  employed  in  carrying  the  mail  of  the  United 
States,  either  as  a  post-rider,  or  a  driver  of  any  carriage  carrying 
the  Mail,"  under  a  penalty  of  fifty  dollars. f 

While  Florida  was  a  territory  of  the  United  States,  the  bills 
passed  by  its  legislature  were  submitted  to  Congress.  If  ap- 
proved by  that  body,  they  became  laws;  but  not  otherwise. 

*  Niles' Register.  f  Jay's  View,  p.  9. 


104  TACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

Thus,  Congress  enacted,  that  if  any  person  should  aid  any  other 
person  held  as  a  slave  to  escape  from  slavery,  he  should  be 
punished  by  the  pillory,  branding,  fine  and  imprisonment.  In 
July,  1844,  Jonathan  Walker,  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  was 
seized  on  the  high  seas,  between  Florida  and  the  Bahamas, 
charged  with  having  violated  this  law,  carried  in  a  United 
Slates'  steamer  to  Pen&acola,  tried  before  a  United  States'  Court, 
set  in  a  United  States'  pillory,  branded  \vilh  a  United  States' 
branding  iron,  chained  with  a  United  States  chain  to  the  naked 
floor  of  a  wretched  prison,  without  either  bed,  chair  or  table; 
and  alter  being  confined  in  this  horrid  condition  more  than 
eleven  months,  was  released  on  condition  of  paying  into  the 
treasury  of  this  liberty  loving  nation  the  sum  of  five  hundred  and 
ninety-six  dollars. 

EFFORTS  TO  PREVENT  EMANCIPATION  IN 
CUM. 

While  Mexico  arid  the  South  American  Republics  were  strug- 
gling for  their  independence,  they  did  not,  like  their  more  North- 
ern neighbor,  march  to  the  battle  field  with  the  sword  in  one 
hand,  while  they  flourished  the  slave-driver's  whip  in  the  other. 
On  the  contrary,  they  began  simultaneously  with  iheir  efforts  to 
obtain  their  own  liberty,  to  extend  its  blessings  to  their  bondmen. 
And  when  they  had  fairly  achieved  their  independence,  they 
gave  freedom  to  every  slave  within  their  borders.  At  the  time 
of  the  Congress  of  Panama,  Spain  was  still  striving  to  maintain 
her  supremacy  over  these  colonies.  This  Congress  assembled 
in  1825  ;  and  the  United  States  were  invited  to  attend.  And  as 
"  Cuba  was  at  a  short  distance,  devoted  to  the  royal  cause,  and 
affording  a  depot  for  the  royal  forces  ready  to  prey  on  their  com- 
merce, Mexico  and  Columbia  proposed  to  invade  this  island  with 
the  view  of  throwing  off  the  royal  authority."  But  this  govern- 
ment, true  to  those  slave-holding  instincts  which  had  guided  and 
controlled  all  its  foreign  relations,  saw  nothing  but  mischief  in 
the  proposed  measure. 

Mexico  had  commenced  the  work  of  abolition  the  year  before. 
Columbia  was  doing  the  same.  With  these  republics,  the  words 
of  liberty  were  not  mere  "  rhetorical  flourishes.'7  They  meant 
something,  even  to  the  poor  bondman.  Yet  they  were  si^ns  of 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  105 

ill-omen  to  the  South,  which  this  government  could  not  help 
seeing.  It  saw,  further,  that  the  conquest  of  Cuba  by  these  re- 
publics, would  result  in  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  that  island. 
And  as  the  nation  had  given  its  pledge  to  the  slave-holding 
interest,  and  had  always  lived  it  out  in  the  fulness  of  its  spirit, 
the  idea  of  emancipation  in  Cuba  was  not  to  be  tolerated. 

Accordingly,  our  representatives  to  the  Congress  of  Panama, 
Messrs.  Anderson  and  Sargeant,  were  instructed  by  Henry  Clay, 
who  was  then  Secretary  of  State,  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors 
to  dissuade  Mexico  and  Columbia  from  the  proposed  invasion. 
In  his  letter  of  instructions  of  May  8th,  1826,  he  says  : 

"  It  is  required  by  the  frank  and  friendly  relations  which  we 
most  anxiously  desire  ever  to  cherish  with  the  new  republics, 
that  you  should,  without  reserve,  explicitly  state  that  the  Uniied 
States  have  too  much  at  stake  in  the  fortunes  of  Cuba,  to  allow 
them  to  see  with  indifference  a  war  of  invasion  piosecuted  in  a 
desolating  manner;  or  to  see  employed  in  the  purposes  of  such 
a  war,  one  race  of  the  inhabitants  combatting  against  another. 
The  humanity  of  the  United  States  in  respect  to  the  weaker,  and 
which  in  such  a  terrible  struggle  would  probably  be  the  suffer- 
ing portion,  and  the  duty  to  defcnd  themselves  against  the  con- 
tagion of  such  near  and  dangerous  examples,  would  cons  Main 
them  even  at  the  hazard  of  losing  the  friendship  of  Mexico  and 
Columbia  to  employ  all  means  necessary  to  their  security.'' 

In  case  Mexico  and  Columbia  should  send  an  army  of  deliver- 
ance to  Cuba,  fur  the  purpose  of  "  loosing  the  bands  of  .wicked- 
ness,''" ami  giving  freedom  to  the  thousands  of  her  sighing  cap- 
tives, thus  ridding  that  island  of  a  most  heaven-daring  system 
of  oppression,  — "  the  humanity  of  the  United  States"  would 
prompt  them  to  send  over  an  army  of  the  "  sons  of  liberty,"  to 
fight  in  behalf  of  these  Spanish  slave-holders.  How  strangely 
are  men  drawn  together  by  the  affinities  of  a  common  interest. 
Pilate  and  Herod  could  be  made  friends,  when  there  was  a  "just 
man  "  to  crucify. 

Our  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg  was  instructed  : 

<:  To  endeavor  to  engaize  the  Russian  Government  to  contribute 
its  best  exertions  towards  terminating  the  existing  contest  be- 
tween Spain  and  her  colonies.  Fiorn  the  vicinity  of  Cuba  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  nature  of  its  population,  their  government 
cannot  be  indifferent  to  any  political  change,  lo  which  that  island 
may  be  destined."* 

*  Letters  from  Mr.  Clay  to  Mr.  Middleton,  lOih  May,  1825. 


106  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

Spain  was  also  begged  and  entreated  to  put  a  stop  to  the  war, 
lest  it  might  result  in  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Cuba,  and  so 
shake  the  system  so  fondly  cherished  by  the  "  democracy"  in  the 
United  States. 

Mr.  Clay,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Everett  of  April  27th,  1825,  says : 
"  It  is  not  for  the  new  republics,  that  the  President  wishes  you  to 
urge  upon  Spain  the  expediency  of  concluding  the  war.  The 
possible  contingencies  of  a  protracted  war,  might  bring  upon  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  duties  and  obligations,  the  per- 
formance of  which,  hoivtver  painful  it  should  be,  they  might  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  decline"  * 

Some  extracts  from  the  debates  in  Congress  on  the  Panama 
Mission  will  further  illustrate  the  solicitude  of  the  Americans  for 
the  safety  of  their  "  peculiar  institution." 

Mr.  Randolph  of  Virginia,  said  :  "Cuba  possesses  an  immense 
negro  population.  In  case  Mexico  and  Columbia  should  invade 
Cuba  at  all,  it  is  unquestionable  that  this  invasion  will  be  made 
with  this  principle,  this  genius  of  universal  emancipation,  this 
sweeping  anathema  against  the  white  population  in  front,  and 
then,  sir,  what  is  the  situation  of  the  Southern  Stales?" 

Mr.  Johnson  of  Louisiana,  said  :  "  We  know  that  Mexico  and 
Columbia  have  long  contemplated  the  independence  of  Cuba. 
What  then,  at  such  a  crisis,  becomes  the  duty  of  this  government? 
Send  your  Ministers  instantly  to  this  assembly  where  the  meas- 
ure is  maturing.  Advise  with  them,  remonstrate  —  MENACE,  if 
necessary,  against  a  step  so  dangerous  to  us." 

Mr.  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  said  :  "  With  a  due  regard  to  the  safety 
of  the  Southern  States,  can  you  suffer  these  islands  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  BUCANIERS,  drunk  with  their  new  lorn  liberty  1  If 
our  interests  and  our  safety  shall  require  us  to  say  to  these  new 
republics,  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  must  remain  as  they  are,  we  are 
free  to  say  it.  And  by  the  blessing  of  God  (?)  and  the  strength  of 
our  arms,  to  enforce  the  declaration;  and  let  me  say  to  gentle- 
men, that  these  high  considerations  do  require  it,  —  the  vital  in- 
terest of  the  South  requires  il"\ 

In  what  respect  did  the  United  States  differ  from  "  these  new 
republics,"  which  this  sturdy  democrat  here  stigmatized  as  "  Buc- 
aniers?"  Certainly  there  is  a  broad  difference.  The  United 
States,  whether  bucaniers  or  not,  never  got  so  "drunk  with  their 
new  born  liberty,"  as  to  demolish  their  human  flesh  shambles,  in 
the  boisterous  merriment  of  their  intoxication.  They  are  always 

*  Senate,  Dec.  1st  Ses.,  19th  Cong.,  vol.  3 
f  Cong.  Debates,  vol.  2 


TACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  107 

sober  enough  to  keep  the  watch-dogs  of  their  plantations  well 
trained;  their  whips,  and  gags,  and  thumb-screws,  their  iron  col- 
lars and  chains,  and  bowie-knives  and  branding-irons,  ready  for 
use.  They  never  for  a  moment  forget  these ;  not  even  in  the  very 
midst  of  their  great  national  revels,  in  honor  of  "freedom  and  the 
rights  of  man." 

Whether  Mexico  and  Columbia  were  influenced  by  the  threats 
and  "menaces"  of  the  United  States  or  not,  they  gave  up  the 
talked  of  invasion  ;  but  the  war  still  continued,  and  with  it,  the 
fears  of  the  Americans.  They  were  alarmed  lest  some  change  in 
in  its  fortunes  might  yet  give  freedom  to  the  slaves  in  Cuba.  And 
Spain  was  again  urged  to  cease  this  warfare,  so  hazardous  to  "  the 
vital  interests  of  the  South."  On  the  22d  of  October,  1829.  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  then  Secretary  of  State,  wrote  a  letter  of  instructions 
to  Nr.  Van  Ness,  Minister  to  Spain,  in  which  he  says:  "  Consid- 
erations connected  with  a  certain  class  of  our  populations,  make  it 
the  interest  of  the  Southern  section  of  the  Union,  that  no  attempt 
should  be  made  in  that  island  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Spanish  de- 
pendence ;  the  first  effect  of  which  would  be  the  sudden  emancipa- 
tion of  a  numerous  slave  population,  whose  result  could  not  but  be 
sensibly  felt  on  the  adjacent  shores  of  the  United  States." 


RELATIONS  TO  HAITI. 

The  existence  of  this  republic  is  almost  coeval  with  our  own. 
Its  government,  as  an  independent  nation,  was  organized  on  the 
1st  of  July,  1.798.  And  as  there  are  many  gross  misconceptions 
in  the  public  mind  relative  to  the  causes  of  the  revolution  in  the 
Island,  and  as  we  have  been  so  often  told  that  the  "  horrors  "  of 
St.  Domingo  resulted  from,  and  were  the  legitimate  fruits  of 
emancipation,  it  may  be  well  to  take  a  glance  at  so  much  of  its 
history  as  will  prove  that  emancipation  was  not  in  any  sense  the 
cause  of  the  troubles  and  insurrections  in  St.  Domingo;  and  that 
the  history  of  that  colony  furnishes  the  clearest  proof  of  the  entire 
safety  of  immediate  emancipation. 

In  1790,  the  free  colored  population  was  supposed  to  be  some- 
what greater  than  that  of  the  whites.  Though  many  of  this  class 
were  wealthy  and  educated,  they  were  debarred  from  all  political 
privileges  on  account  of  their  complexion.  The  Island  was  at  this 


108  FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

time  a  colony  of  France.  The  entire  population  was  estimated 
at  686,000.  600,000  of  whom  were  slaves,  44,000  free  people  of 
color,  and  the  remainder  whites. 

The  whites  were  divided  into  three  classes ;  the  Creole  plan- 
ters, or  large  proprietors,  constituting  the  native  aristocracy,  the 
European  residents,  composing  the  office-holders,  adventurers, 
speculators,  and  petits  blancs,  the  jpoorer  whites,  tradesmen,  me- 
chanics. 

Although  each  of  these  classes  hated  the  others,  they  had  one 
feeling  in  common,  and  that  was  a  most  implacable  abhorrence  of 
the  mulattoes  or  free  colored  people,  who  it  is  stated  owned  one- 
third  of  the  real  estate,  and  one-fourth  of  the  personal  property  of 
the  Island.  Notwithstanding  this,  they  were  compelled  to  do  any 
kind  of  public  service  without  compensation  ;  degraded  and  in- 
sulted in  every  possible  way  short  of  absolute  enslavement. 

The  slaves  were  most  brutally  treated  in  the  French  part  of 
the  Island.  Large  masses  of  them  consisted  of  newly  imported 
Africans,  who  still  retained  the  superstitions  and  usages  of  their 
native  country. 

On  the  27th  of  December,  1788,  the  States  General  of  France 
passed  a  resolution  to  admit  to  that  body  a  number  of  the  "  Tiers 
Etat"  (persons  of  third  estate,)  equal  to  that  of  the  other  two  or- 
ders. When  the  news  reached  St.  Domingo,  the  white  colonists 
immediately  resolved  to  assert  their  right  to  be  represented,  and 
commissioned  eighteen  delegates,  who  were  fully  recognized  by 
the  States  General.  About  this  time  the  society  of  Les  Amis  des 
Noirs,  (friends  of  the  blacks,)  was  formed.  Every  blow  struck  for 
liberty  in  France,  electrified  the  colonies.  When  the  fall  of  the 
Bastile  reached  St.  Domingo,  the  colonists  became  wrought  up 
with  intense  excitement.  "Liberty  and  Fraternity"  sounded 
from  the  lips  of  all  classes. 

Meantime,  in  the  general  discussion  of  the  subject  of  human 
rights,  the  mulattoes  or  free  people  of  color,  began  to  take  a  deep 
interest.  Many  of  this  number  were  at  Paris  receiving  an  educa- 
tion ;  and  their  correspondence  with  friends  at  home,  stimulated 
them  to  the  demand  of  rights,  which  the  French  Revolutionists 
could  with  no  consistency  deny. 

In  1789,  the  mulattoes  sent  a  deputation  to  Paris  to  urge  their 
claims  to  representation  in  the  Colonial  Assembly.  They  pre- 


FACTS    FOR    THE    PEOPLE.  109 

sented  0,000,000  livres  to  the  government,  and  pledged  one-fifth 
of  their  property  to  aid  in  the  liquidation  of  the  national  debt. 
Encouraged  by  the  sympathies  of  Lafayette  and  his  associates, 
and  others,  the  free  people  of  color  in  the  colony  began  to  press 
their  claims  on  the  attention  of  the  authorities ;  but  they  were 
at  once  met  with  the  most  unrelenting  opposition  from  all 
classes  of  the  whites.  Lacombe,  a  mulatto,  was  hung  at  Cape 
Francois  for  having  merely  signed  a  petition  on  the  subject.  A 
venerable  magistrate  at  Petite  Goave,  who  had  drawn  up  a  simi- 
lar petition  for  the  mulattoes,  was  dragged  from  his  house  and 
brutally  murdered.  The  petits  blancs,  (small  whites;)  signalized 
themselves  above  all  others,  by  their  outrages  against  the  unfor- 
tunate people  who,  thus  far,  had  distinguished  themselves  for  their 
forbearance. 

Lafayette  and  his  friends  were  meanwhile  urging  the  claims  of 
the  free  people  of  color,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  procuring  the 
passage  of  a  decree  by  the  National  Assembly,  dated  March  8th, 
1790,  that  every  person  of  twenty-five  years  of  age,  the  proprietor 
of  real  estate,  or  in  fault  of  that,  who  had  been  a  resident 
of  the  place  for  two  years,  and  paid  his  taxes  for  support  of 
the  colony,  should  be  entitled  to  vote  for  members  of  the  Colonial 
Assembly.  Let  it  be  observed,  that  the  contest  concerned  not  the 
natural  rights  of  the  slaves,  whom  nobody  proposed  to  emancipate, 
but  the  political  rights  of  the  free  people  of  color. 

The  promulgation  of  the  act  kindled  a  flame  in  the  colony. 
The  whites  execrated  the  National  Assembly.  The  Colonial  As- 
sembly passed  a  resolve  that  it  would  prefer  death  rather  than 
share  political  rights  with  "a  degenerate  and  bastard  race." 

Bitter  feuds  continued  to  prevail  in  the  colony  until  the  provin- 
cial provinces  were  arrayed  against  each  other,  and  open  war 
broke  out  between  the  Governor  General  and  the  Colonial  As- 
sembly. In  the  struggle  the  free  people  of  color  were  invoked  by 
the  former,  and  he  made  such  head  against  the  Assembly,  that  the 
whole  body,  driven  to  desperation,  resolved  to  embark  for  France 
and  lay  its  grievances  before  the  National  Assembly.  Meanwhile 
the  mulattoes  continued  to  be  the  subjects  of  the  grossest  out- 
rages and  insults,  and  began  to  lose  their  patience. 

Vincent  or  James  Oge,  an  educated  mulatto,  in  Paris,  who  had 
for  a  long  time  been  laboring  to  reclaim  the  rights  of  his  peo- 
9 


110  FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

pie,  disgusted  at  an  explanatory  decree  of  the  National  Assembly, 
out  of  heart,  irritated  and  desperate,  abandoned  Paris,  landed  at 
Cape  Francois,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  of  his 
friends,  resolved  to  compel  concessions.  No  rights  but  those  of 
the  mulattoes  were  in  question.  The  response  to  his  demands, 
was  a  force  of  six  hundred  men  sent  to  punish  him.  These  were 
routed.  They  were  followed  by  an  army  of  twelve  hundred 
strong.  Ogc  and  his  fellow-chief,  Baptiste  Chavanne,  were  taken, 
led  bare-headed  in  their  shirts  into  the  public  square,  with  ropes 
around  their  necks,  and  tften  placed  upon  the  wheel,  where,  with 
faces  upturned,  and  their  thighs,  legs,  and  arms  broken,  they  died 
a  horrible  and  lingering  death.  This  was  never  forgotten;  it 
filled  the  hearts  of  the  free  colored  population  with  undying  hate. 

The  consequences  of  the  unwise,  vacillating,  inconsistent  legis- 
lation of  the  National  Assembly,  were  most  ruinous.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  consternation  of  the  great  planters;  they  looked 
with  dismay  upon  the  elevation  of  the  pdits  blancs ;  and  both  were 
fired  with  deadly  animosity  against  the  mulattoes.  "Amid  all  the 
varying  animosity  of  party  warfare,"  says  Brown,  in  his  history  of 
St.  Domingo,  "  on  one  subject  the  unanimity  was  perfect.  This 
was  the  doggedness  of  Creole  prejudice  when  the  question  was 
brought  up  to  establish  the  political  rights  of  the  mulattoes.  Up 
to  this  moment,  despite  all  the  influence  of  the  home  govern- 
ment, these  people  had  been  excluded  from  their  rights.  The 
Constituent  Assembly  at  Paris,  to  obviate  all  doubt,  and  settle  the 
question,  decided,  May  15th,  1791,  that  "all  people  of  color  resid- 
ing in  the  French  Colonies,  and  born  of  free  parents,  were  enti- 
tled to  the  same  privileges  as  French  citizens,  and  among  others, 
to  the  right  of  voting  at  elections,  and  to  seats  in  the  Provincial 
and  Colonial  Assemblies.  The  violence  of  the  colonists  now  over- 
leaped all  bounds.  The  parties  swore  to  resist  force  by  force." 

All  this  time  the  free  people  of  color  were  quiet,  carefully  ab- 
staining from  violence,  relying  upon  the  energy  and  good  faith  of 
the  home  government.  An  influential  member  of  their  class 
wrote  to  a  friend  in  Paris  :  "  We  have  never  been  guilty  of  mur- 
dering any  one,  or  of  intending  any  one's  death  ;  yet  our  own 
blood  has  been  poured  out  like  water.  We  could  retaliate;  but 
we  refrain.  The  idea  that  the  negroes  might  take  advantage  of 
such  hostilities  to  desolate  this  beautiful  country,  is  enough  tc 
make  us  renounce  the  thought." 


FACTS   FOR   THE    PEOPLE.  Ill 

The  slaves  had  hitherto  been  perfectly  tranquil.  The  struggle 
had  not  touched  their  rights ;  no  claim  was  set  up  for  them.  But 
now  the  noise  of  the  conflict  about  them  attracted  their  attention. 
Their  masters,  too,  apprehensive  that  their  discussions  about 
rights,  and  the  general  disorganization  of  society,  might  tempt 
them  to  revolt,  doubled  the  patrols.  This  excited  the  amazement 
of  the  negroes.  Is  it  wonderful  that  when  society  appeared  to  be 
in  a  state  of  dissolution,  and  civil  war  raged  on  every  side,  the 
slaves  being  sometimes  armed  by  their  masters  in  their  bloody 
conflicts,  that  the  bonds  of  so  unnatural  a  system  as  slavery  began 
to  give  way  ? 

In  1796,  a  few  insurrectionary  movements  took  place  in  differ- 
ent sections,  but  were  suppressed  by  measures  of  unheard  of  cru- 
elty. General  Caradeux  caused  the  heads  of  fifty  slaves  to  be  cut 
off  on  the  Aubay  plantation,  and  stuck  on  poles  along  the  hedges, 
like  palm-trees!  What  could  be  expected  ?  On  the  night  of  the 
22d  of  August,  1791,  the  slaves  in  the  northern  provinces  rose 
upon  their  masters,  and  in  four  days  one-third  of  the  province  was 
a  smoking  heap  of  ruins.  Then  began  "  the  horrors  of  St.  Domin- 
go." From  that  time  till  order  was  re-established  by  Touissant, 
the  Island  was  a  hell  in  which  all  the  furies  seemed  to  be  let 
loose.  Every -man's  hand  was  against  his  brother  —  the  poor 
whites,  the  European  residents,  the  Creole  planters,  the  mulattoes, 
now  turned  their  weapons  against  each  other,  and  then  united  for 
a  time  in  beating  back  the  black  hordes  which  pressed  upon  them. 
These  revolted,  not  because  they  were,  emancipated,  but  because  they 
were  enslaved;  and  their  revolt  was  sustained  and  directed  by 
French  loyalists  and  the  counsels  of  Spain. 

On  the  16th  of  September,  1792,  three  French  Commissioners 
arrived  with  authority  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  province. 
They  stationed  themselves  at  different  points  ;  Sauthonax  at  Cape 
Francois,  Polverel  at  Port  au  Prince,  and  Ailhaude  at  Aux  Cayes. 
'The  last  soon  abandoned  his  charge  in  despair,  and  returned 
home.  A  strife  sprung  up  between  Sauthonax  and  M.  Galbaud, 
lately  arrived  from  France  with  the  appointment  of  Governor. 
The  commission  of  Galbaud  was  soon  revoked ;  but  he  deter- 
mined to  hold  on  to  his  authority.  A  civil  war  was  the  result. 
The  streets  of  Cape  Francois  were  drenched  in  blood.  Sautho- 
nax, hard  pressed,  and  on  the  point  of  losing  all,  proclaimed  liberty 


112  FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 

to  the  slaves  in  the  city,  rallied  them  to  his  stand,  and  invited  one 
of  the  insurgent  hands  to  come  to  his  aid,  and  then  let  them  loose 
upon  Galbaud  and  his  sympathizers.  Galbaud's  forces  were 
routed  ;  the  city  caught  fire  in  the  conflict;  the  forces  of  Sautho- 
nax  fell  upon  it  and  pillaged  it,  and  the  citizens  who  escaped  with 
their  lives,  took  refuge  on  board  some  ship  in  the  harbor.  Hun- 
dreds of  millions'  worth  of  property  was  destroyed  and  the  loss  of 
life  was  enormous;  and  to  attribute  this  to  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
argues  unpardonable  ignorance  or  something  worse. 

No  decree  of  emancipation  had  yet  been  promulgated.  Ac- 
counts were  received  of  great  preparations  of  England  to  make  a 
descent  upon  the  colony.  As  a  last  resort,  Sauthonax,  hy  a  sol- 
emn act  August  20,  1793,  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  St.  Domingo,  and  the  admission  of  the  blacks  to  ihe 
rights  of  citizenship.  In  the  south  and  west,  where  the  slaves 
had  not  generally  revolted,  the  proclamation  excited  extreme 
alarm  and  indignation.  A  grand  council  of  the  Commissioners 
and  planters  was  held  at  Port  au  Prince,  and  the  latter  were  per- 
suaded to  submit. 

"The  negroes  of  the  south  were  appeased  by  this  graciousness 
of  their  masters,  and  returned  to  their  labors  on  the  neglected 
plantations.  They  began  to  plant  provisions  for  their  sustenance, 
to  relieve  the  distresses  of  the  famine  which  were  beginning  to 
press  heavily  upon  them  from  the  failure  of  importation  from 
abroad."  *  There  is  not  the  record  of  a  single  insurrection  caused 
by  this  act  of  emancipation.  But  though  the  liberated  negroes 
were  contented,  the  planters  were  sullen  and  exasperated  against 
France.  The  planters  agreed  to  aid  the  British  in  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  island  ;  and  the  British  agreed  to  enable  them  to  re- 
duce their  negroes  to  their  former  slavery  again.  The  war  against 
the  blacks  was  now  carried  on  with  bloody  atrocity ;  many  of  the 
mulattoes  co-operating  with  the  English  and  planters,  to  reduce 
them  to  bondage  again.  The  Island  seemed  utterly  God-forsaken, 
when  TOUISSANT  L'OVERT^URE  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
insurgent  blacks,  and  th3  remnant  of  native  troops,  carries  on  the 
war  against  the  English,  until  in  1793  they  are  compelled  to  evac- 
uate the  Island. 

May  5,  1797,  TOUISSANT  was  declared  general-in-chief  of  the 

*Brovvn's  History. 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  113 

colony.  His  influence  over  the  liberated  blacks  was  omnipotent. 
All  authorities  concur  in  representing,  that  civil  feuds  disappeared 
under  his  wise  measures.  The  blacks  went  to  work,  order  was 
restored,  the  whites  enjoyed  security,  commerce  began  to  flourish, 
and  all  the  arts  of  peace  were  again  taking  root.  The  indepen- 
dence of  the  Island  was  thoroughly  established  under  the  name  of 
"the  Republic  of  HAYTI." 

The  next  attempt  to  subjugate  the  island  was  made  by  Bona- 
parte. "  Early  in  January,  1802,  a  French  army  of  20,000  men 
were  landed  at  St.  Domingo,  under  General  Le  Clerc,  and  various 
reinforcements  afterwards  followed."  "  The  war  was  waged  with 
atrocious  cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  French  ;  and  the  blacks  aided 
by  the  climate  succeeded  in  destroying  about  forty  thousand  of 
their  enemies  in  about  eleven  months ;  and  on  the  19th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1802,  the  wrecks  of  the  invading  army  surrendered  to  Dessa- 
lines,  the  black  chief."  * 

"In  1805,  Dessalines  was  appointed  governor  for  life,  and  soon 
after  assumed  the  title  of  emperor.  He  was  slain  by  a  military 
conspiracy  in  1806,  and  was  succeeded  by  Christophe  as  Chief 
Magistrate  for  life  ;  Petion,  a  mulatto,  being  a  rival  candidate, 
and  defeated  in  a  severe  battle  in  1807.  In  1811,  he  assumed  the 
title  of  King,  and  was  massacred  in  a  military  conspiracy  in  1820. 
But  during  the  whole  period  from  1801  to  1818,  Petion  was 
President  of  the  mulatto  population,  in  the  south  and  west  part  of 
the  island.  He  died  in  1818,  greatly  lamented,  for  he  was  a  good 
and  able  ruler,  and  was  succeeded  by  Boyer,  who  on  the  death  of 
Christophe,  in  1820,  became  President  of  the  whole  of  the  French 
part  of  the  island.  The  Spanish  part  was  ceded  to  France  in 
1794,  but  was  held  by  the  Spanish  population  till  1821,  when  they 
offered  to  join  the  republic  of  Columbia,  but  were  rejected.  They 
have  remained  independent  ever  since,  though  in  number,  proba- 
bly not  exceeding  100,000.  The  Presidency  of  Boyer  continued 
till  his  expulsion  a  few  months  ago." 

"Here,  then,  is  a  history  of  the  colored  population  of  Hayti  for 
forty  years.  In  that  period,  they  have  exhibited  one  civil  war 
between  the  blacks  and  mulattoes  ;  two  dethronements  of  mon- 
archs,  and  one  expulsion  of  a  President,  and  three  changes  of 
government ;  two  from  republicanism  to  monarchy,  and  one  from 
monarchy  to  republicanism.  This  looks  like  a  formidable  cata- 
logue of  discords.  But  how  does  it  compare  with  the  catalogue 
of  France  ?  During  this  period  we  have  seen  France  pass  from 
a  republic  under  a  directory,  to  a  republic  under  a  Consul  for 
years ;  then  to  a  Consulship  for  life ;  then  to  the  rule  of  an 

*  Jay's  View. 


114  FACTS    TOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

Emperor;  then  to  that  of  a  Constitutional  King;  then  to  that  of 
Emperor;  then  to  that  of  another  Constitutional  King  striving  to 
overthrow  the  constitution  ;  then  to  that  of  a  '  Citizen  King",'  sur- 
rounded by  republican  institutions,  and  again  to  a  republic. 
During  the  same  period,  France  hits  exhibited  the  civil  war  of  La 
Vendee,  two  dethronements  of  Kings,  two  of  Emperors,  two  inva- 
sions of  the  'allies;'  and  Paris,  '  which  is  France,'  has  exhibited 
the  massacre  of  the  'sections,'  and  the  'memorable  three  days  ;' 
and  we  may  add  to  the  catalogue  not  less  than  six  constitutions. 
And  though  no  King  or  Emperor  has  been  assassinated  in  this 
period,  the  attempts  to  assassinate  Napoleon  were  'legion,'  and 
those  to  kill  the  King  have  been  more  than  we  can  count.  Now 
if  all  the  disorders  of  Hayti  prove  the  incapacity  of  its  people  for 
self  government,  what  story  do  those  of  France  tell  for  French- 
men ?  Especially  when  we  reflect  that  many  of  the  disorders  of 
Hayti  grew  out  of  those  of  France. 

"Shall  we  go  to  Mexico  and  South  America  for  comparison  in 
capacity  for  self-government?  Let  the  innumerable  contests 
among  generals,  and  the  horrible  oppressions  which  they  have 
inflicted  upon  the  people  answer  the  questions.  Shall  we  go  to 
Spain  and  Portugal  ?  In  each,  the  revolutions  have  been  like  the 
changes  of  the  season,  and  are  siill  in  progress,  and  we  may  chal- 
lenge the  bloodiest  details  of  Haytien  history,  for  parallels  to  the 
atrocities  of  Spain.  If  Dessalines  and  Christophe  were  cruelty- 
rants,  as  they  were,  what  shall  we  say  of  such  monsters  as  Miguel 
and  Ferdinand  VII.  •  If  the  late  anarchy  of  Hayti  was  deplorable, 
what  is  that  of  Spain?  Well  may  those  who  deny  the  capacity  of 
the  Haytiens  for  self  government,  say  that  comparisons  are  '  odi- 
ous.' " 

But  we  are  told  that  the  Haytiens  are  rude  and  uncultivated 
barbarians,  and  therefore  unfit  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  rightful 
governors  of  so  fair  a  country. 

To  this,  it  may  be  answered,  that  there  is  no  surer  index  to  the 
civilization  of  any  nation,  than  its  laws  and  institutions.  By  a 
brief  reference  to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  Hayti,  we 
shall  see  at  a  glance  that  such  charges  are  the  vilest  slander. 
That  instrument  is  prefaced  by  the  following  preamble : 

"  The  people  of  Hayti  proclaim,  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  present  Constitution,  that  they  may  consecrate  forever, 
its  rights,  its  civil  and  political  guaranties,  and  its  national  inde- 
pendence." 

"  Every  citizen,  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  exercises  politi- 
cal rights." 

"  Haytiens  are  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  and  are  equally  ad- 
missible to  all  civil  and  military  employments,  and  there  is  no 
distinction  of  orders." 

"  The  right  of  property  is  inviolable." 


FACTS    FOR   THE    PEOPLE. 


115 


"The  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  are  recognized.  And 
all  forms  of  religion  are  equally  tolerated." 

"Schools  are  established,  and  the  mode  of  teaching  untram- 
melled." 

"  The  trial  by  jury  is  established  in  all  criminal  matters." 

"  The  right  of  the  people,  peaceably  to  assemble  and  discuss 
political  subjects,  also  the  right  of  petition,  recognized." 

The  privileges  and  authority  of  the  National  Assembly,  are  ihe 
same  as  the  American  Congress.  Their  form  of  government  is 
essentially  like  our  own. 

Such  are  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
Republic  of  Ilayti.  Now  compare  them  with  the  laws  of  more 
than  half  the  States  of  this  Union,  which  convert  nearly  one-half 
of  their  entire  population  into  goods  and  chattels;  and  which  ex- 
pose  them  for  sale  at  public  auction  like  horses  and  swine  in  the 
market;  and  then  say  who  are  the  greatest  barbarians,  the  Hay- 
tiens  or  the  Americans  ? 

As  an  additional  evidence  of  the  civilization  of  Hayti,  we  insert 
the  following  from  Brooks'  Universal  Gazetteer  —  Art.  —  St.  .Do- 
rningo : — 

"  A  college  has  been  founded  and  liberally  endowed  at  Cape 
Haytien,  in  which  provision  is  made  for  instruction  in  all  the  lan- 
guages, arts,  and  sciences,  usually  taught  in  European  establish- 
ments of  the  like  kind  ;  public  schools  have  been  established  in 
most  of  the  principal  towns  of  the  west  part  of  the  Island;  and  be 
the  future  destiny  of  St.  Domingo  what  it  may,  she  is  at  present 
one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  for  contemplation  in  the 
world;  an  age  has  hardly  passed  away  since  the  bulk  of  the  in- 
habitants were  held  in  the  most  abject  and  degraded  stale  of 
bondage ;  since  when,  they  have  successfully  resisted  the  arms  of 
two  of  the  most  powerful  nations  of  their  time,  and  now  remain 
pursuing  a  silent  but  steady  course  towards  giving  a  new  and  ad- 
ditionally important  character  to  the  social  relations  of  the  civil- 
ized world." 

To  show  that  the  civilization  of  Hayti  is  not  going  backwards, 
we  insert  the  following  from  the  National  Intelligencer  of  July 
24,  1847  : 

"  The  Journal  of  Commerce  has  files  of  papers  from  Port  au 
Prince  to  the  8th  instant. 

The  Legislature  was  busily  engaged  in  carrying  out  the  meas- 
ures of  the  administration,  judiciously  conceived  for  the  promotion 
of  the  public  prosperity.  Having  established  the  conveyance  of 
mails  on  certain  of  the  great  public  routes,  the  government  were 


116  FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

taking  measures  to  respond  to  the  demands  of  the  people  for  the 
extension  of  this  public  convenience,  and  had  already  adopted  an 
efficient  system  for  the  repair  and  maintenance  of  the  roads. 
Great  encouragement  is  offered  to  the  multiplication  of  the  chan- 
nels of  industry  and  the  increase  of  production,  and  a  temporary 
premium  of  three  cents  per  pound  has  been  accorded  to  the  ex- 
portation of  sugar. 

The  papers  congratulate  the  people  that  the  appropriation  of  the 
public  funds  has  been  devolved  upon  the  Chambers  by  the  admin- 
istration, for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Republic.  After 
having  passed  through  anarchy  the  most  complete,  the  omnipotence 
of  a  dictatorship,  and  the  vain  semblance  of  constitutional  power, 
we  are  now  (says  the  Manifesto)  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  a  Repre- 
sentative Government. 

MM.  the  Senators  B.  Ardouin  and  Delva  embarked  at  Jacmel 
in  the  steamer  of  the  10th  ultimo.  They  are  bearers  of  the  con- 
vention, signed  by  the  French  and  Haytien  Plenipotentiaries,  for 
the  payment  of  the  indemnity  due  to  France,  to  be  submitted  for 
ratification  to  the  King  of  the  French. 

M.  Ardouin  will  remain  in  France,  as  the  representative  of 
Hayti,  with  the  title  of  Minister  Resident  near  the  French  Gov- 
ernment. M.  Eugene  S.  Villevaleix  goes  out  as  his  Secretary  of 
Legation." 

"  For  those  who  question  the  industry  of  the  Haytiens,  we  sub- 
join the  following  tables,  showing  the  exports  from  the  Island  of 
late  years.  No  better  proof  can  be  given  of  the  general  industry 
of  a  people,  than  the  amount  of  their  productions ;  and  the  records 
of  the  custom-house  is  one  of  the  readiest  evidences  of  this ; 
though  of  course  but  an  approach  to  a  just  estimate.  It  enables 
us,  however,  to  compare  one  nation  with  another."  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  the  population  of  the  Island  is  estimated  at  800,000 
or  900,000.  Not  much  greater  than  that  of  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 


From  Essays  on  Colonies,  ^-c.,  by  Judge  Jerimie. 

EXPORTS  IN  1832,  FROM  HAYTI. 

Coffee,  50,000,000  Ibs.,  valued  at  $4,400,000 

Cotton,  1,500,000  " 

Tobacco,  500,000  " 

Cocoa,  500,000  " 

Dye- Wood,  5,000,000  " 

Tortoise  Shell,  12,000  " 

Mahogany,  6,000,000  feet. 

Hides,  80,000  Ibs. 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  117 

From  the  American  Almanrtc. 


Imports  to  the 

U.S. 
from  Hnyti. 


Exports    from 

U.S. 
to   Hayti. 


Average  annual       Average  annual 


Exports  from 
England 
to   HaUL 

Average  annual 


France  in  1833, 

exported 

to    Hayti 

$701,729.  "  Same 

\ear,  her  imports 


imports    for    thi  r- exports    for    tlnr-  exports  from  1830, from     Hayt 

I  pen  years,  ending  teen  years,  end  ing 'to  1835,  $1,759,-  mounted  to  $905.- 

184l,$l,702,lG6.jl84l,$l,225.700.l2l6.  J432.* 

This  shows  a  balance  of  trade  against  the  United  States,  and  in 
favor  of  Hayti,  of  $476,406  per  annum.  Also  a  balance  of  more 
than  $200,000  against  France,  and  in  favor  of  Hayti,  The  aver- 
age amount  of  income  to  the  government  for  seven  years,  ending 
in  1825,  was  $2,687,358  ;  and  the  average  expenditure  for  the 
same  time  was  $2.526,741,  showing  an  average  annual  excess  of 
income  over  the  expenditures  of  $J60,6i7. 

"A  government,  we  need  hardly  remark,  must  be  efficient, 
which  for  a  series  of  years  exhibits  an  almost  uninterrupted  excess 
of  income  over  expenditure  —  the  revenue  being  entirely  created 
by  trade." 

So  much  for  the  indolence  and  poverty  of  the  Haytiens.  Their 
anniial  exports,  according  to  population,  are  about  equal  to  those 
of  the  United  States. 

And  now  let  us  inquire  what  has  been  the  conduct  of  the 
United  Suites  towards  this  heroic  republic,  which  had  thus  man- 
fully and  successfully  struggled  for  its  independence. 

The}'  have  ever  refused  to  acknowledge  their  independence,  or 
to  enter  into  anv  civil  or  diplomatic  relations  with  them  whatever. 
This  nation  professes  to  glory  in  the  doctrine  that  "all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  have  an  inalienable  right  to  liberty,"  and  it 
should  not  only  have  been  first  and  foremost,  to  acknowledge  the 
independence  of  the  Hayliens,  but  the  first  generously  to  step  for- 
ward and  aid  them  in  obtaining  it.  Instead  of  this,  what  do  we 
see?  Instigated  by  the  emissaries  of  Bonaparte,  who  was  exas- 
"»erated  at  the  loss  of  his  army,  and  his  inability  to  subjugate  the 
Island,  as  well  as  their  own  hatred  of  the  colored  race.  Congress 
passed  an  act  on  the  28th  of  February,  1806,  "  to  suspend  the  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  certain  parts  of 
the  Island  of  St.  Domingo."  f 

The  law  provided  that  any  vessel  trading  from  any  part  of  the 

*  Light  and  Truth,  p.  355. 

f  Laws  of  the  U.  S.,  vol.  1,  p.  4. 


118  FACTS  TOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

United  States  to  any  of  the  prohibited  parts  of  St.  Domingo,  to- 
gether with  the  cargo  of  such  vessel,  should  be  forfeited,  &c.  This 
act  was  never  repealed,  but  expired  by  its  own  limitation. 

One  of  the  subjects  of  consideration  at  the  Congress  of  Panama, 
which  has  already  been  mentioned,  was  the  recognition  of  the  in- 
dependence of  Hayti.  We  here  give  some  extracts  from  speeches 
in  Congress,  while  the  subject  of  the  Panama  mission  was  under 
discussion  there. 

MR.  BERRIEN  of  Georgia:  —  "Consistently  with  our  own  safe- 
ty, can  the  people  of  the  Sooth  permit  the  intercourse  which  would 
result  from  the  establishing  relations  of  any  sort  with  Hayti  ?  Is 
the  emancipated  slave  to  be  admitted  into  their  ports,  to  spread 
the  doctrines  of  insurrection,  and  to  strengthen  and  invigorate 
them,  by  exhibiting  in  his  own  person  an  example  of  successful 
revolt  ?  " 

MR.  BENTON  of  Missouri:  —  "The  peace  of  eleven  States  of 
this  Union  will  not  permit  the  fruits  of  a  successful  negro  insur- 
rection to  be  seen  among  them  ;  —  it  will  not  permit  the  fact  to  be 
seen  and  told,  that  they  are  to  find  friends  among  the  white  people 
of  the  United  States." 

MR.  HAMILTON  of  South  Carolina:  —  "It  is  proper  that  on  this 
occasion  I  should  speak  with  candor  and  without  reserve ;  that  1 
should  avow  what  I  believe  to  be  the  sentiments  of  the  Southern 
people  on  this  question,  and  this  is,  that  Haytien  independence  19 
not  to  be  tolerated  in  any  form" 

MR.  HAYNE  of  South  Carolina  —  "With  nothing  connected 
with  slavery  can  we  consent  to  treat  with  other  nations ;  and  least 
of  all  ought  we  to  touch  the  question  of  the  independence  of 
Hayti,  in  conjunction  with  the  revolutionary  governments  whoso 
own  history  affords  an  example  scarcely  less  fatal  to  our  repose. 
These  governments  have  proclaimed  principles  of  liberty  and 
equality ;  and  have  marched  to  victory  under  the  banner  of  uni- 
versal emancipation.  You  find  men  of  color  at  the  head  of  their 
armies,  in  the  legislative  halls,  and  in  the  executive  departments. 
Our  policy  with  regard  to  Hayti  is  plain.  We  NEVER  can  ack- 
nowledge her  independence.  Let  our  government  direct  all  our 
Ministers  in  South  America  and  Mexico,  to  PROTEST  against  the 
independence  of  Hayti." 

MR.  JOHNSON  of  Louisiana :  —  "It  may  be  proper  to  express  to 
the  South  American  States,  the  unalterable  opinion  entertained 
here  in  regard  to  intercourse  with  them.  The  unadvised  recogni- 
tion of  that  Island,  (Hayti,)  and  the  public  reception  of  their  Min- 
isters, will  nearly  sever  our  diplomatic  intercourse,  and  bring 
about  a  separation  and  alienation  injurious  to  both.  I  deem  it  of 
the  highest  concern  to  the  political  connection  of  these  countries, 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  119 

to  remonstrate  against  a  measure  so  justly  offensive  to  us,  and  to 
make  that  remonstrance  EFFECTUAL.* 

Twelve  years  after,  on  the  17th  of  December,  1838,  a  petition 
was  presented  to  Congress,  praying  for  the  establishment  of  the 
usual  international  relations  with  Hayti.  As  soon  as  the  objects 
of  the  petition  were  known,  a  storm  was  raised  on  the  question  of 
its  reception;  and  no  less  than  thirty -two  members  voted  against 
it.  A  few  extracts  from  the  speeches  on  that  occasion,  will  show 
that  time  had  nothing  abated  the  bitterness  of  feeling  on  the  part 
of  the  white  skinned  "  democracy,"  towards  their  Haytien  neigh- 
bors. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations,  to  which 
the  memorial  was  finally  referred,  said,  "that  similar  petitions 
had  been  sent  there  the  last  session,  which  had  never  been  reported 
on.  This  would  take  a  similar  course  ;  it  would  never  be  heard  of 
again" 

M R.  LEGARE  of  South  Carolina:  —  "As  sure  as  you  live,  sir, 
if  this  cause  is  permitted  to  go  on,  the  sun  of  this  Union  will  go 
down  —  it  will  go  down  in  BLOOD  —  and  go  down  to  rise  no 
more.  I  will  vote  unhesitatingly  against  nefarious  designs  like 
these.  They  are  treason;  yes  sir,  I  pronounce  the  authors  of 
such  things  traitors ;  traitors  not  to  their  country  only,  but  to  the 
whole  human  race". 

This  refined  gentleman  either  meant  to  except  the  Haytiens,  or 
to  say  that  they  were  no  part  of  the  human  race. 

MR.  WISE  of  Virginia:  —  "  We  are  called  upon  to  recognize 
the  insurrectionists  who  rose  on  their  French  masters.  A  large 
number  of  those  now  in  power  in  this  black  republic,  are  slaves 
who  cut  their  master's  throats.  And  will  any  gentleman  tell  me 
now,  that  slaves,  aided  by  an  English  army,  ought  to  be  recog- 
nized by  this  government  ?  Never  will  I  —  never  will  my  constit- 
uents be  forced  into  this.  This  is  the  only  body  of  men  who  have 
emancipated  themselves  by  butchering  their  masters.  They  have 
long  been  free,  I  admit;  yet  if  they  had  been  free  for  centuries, — 
if  time  himself  should  confront  me,  and  shake  his  hoary  locks  at 
my  opposition,  I  should  say  to  him,  I  owe  more  to  my  constituents, 
to  the  quiet  of  my  people,  than  I  owe,  or  can  owe  to  mouldy  pre- 
scriptions, however  ancient." 

This  Virginian  for  once  has  been  wise  above  what  is  written. 
The  "  English  army  "  of  which  he  speaks  went  to  St.  Domingo, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  slaves  in  obtaining  their  freedom, 
*  Cong.  Debates,  vol.  2. 


Mfll 


120  FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

but  to  assist  the  masters  in  reducing  them  to  slavery,  after  they 
had  been  emancipated ;  with  what  success  has  already  been 
shown.  He  seems  also  to  have  forgotten,  that  Washington,  an 
Hancock,  and  Warren,  and  Jefferson,  and  Franklin,  andHei.j, 
and  probably  his  own  father  —  if  not  a  tory — had  but  a  little 
while  before,  risen  on  their  English  "masters,"  and  "cut  their 
throats;"  and  obtained  their  freedom  by  "butchering"  them,  in 
the  same  way  the  Haytiens  had  done.  But  then,  these  latter 
bear  a  different  complexion  from  the  former,  which  makes  the 
difference. 

"In  1842,  the  imports  from  Hayti  into  the  United  States  ex- 
ceeded in  value  the  imports  from  Prussia,  Sweden  and  Norway, 
Denmark  and  the  Danish  West  Indies,  Ireland  and  Scotland,  Hol- 
land, Belgium,  Dutch  West  Indies,  British  West  Indies,  Spain, 
Portugal  and  all  Italy,  Turkey,  and  the  Levant,  or  any  one  of  the 
South  American  republics."  * 

Although  this  government  has  been  willing  to  hunt  down  fugi- 
tive slaves,  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  continent,  and  even 
across  the  ocean,  it  affords  no  protection  to  this  commerce. 

"  Our  trade  with  Hayti  is  embarrassed  ;  it  is  subjected  to  se- 
vere discriminating  duties.  We  are  probably  the  least  favored  of 
any  people  in  the  ports  of  that  Republic.  Tonnage  duties  and 
vexatious  port  charges,  discourage  arid  oppress  our  commerce 
there.  The  acknowledged  cause  of  all  the  embarrassments  to 
that  trade,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  our  government  refuses  to 
acknowledge  the  government  of  Hayti.  While  all  other  powers 
have  acknowledged  them  as  an  independent  sovereignty,  we  stand 
aloof  as  if  they  were  a  lawless  tribe  of  savages.  We  have  no  rep- 
resentative at  the  Island  of  any  grade  ;  nor  have  they  a  public 
officer  accredited  here.  No  commercial  relation,  therefore,  exists 
between  the  two  governments."  f 

And  Northern  men  are  willing  thus  to  sacrifice  their  immense 
trade  with  Hayii,  rather  than  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  slave 
power,  by  pressing  up  Congress  to  acknowledge  its  independence. 

Such  have  been  some  of  the  schemes  and  machinations  of  the 
slaveocracy  of  this  nation  to  extend  and  perpetuate  that  system  of 
untold  horrors.  But  the  cunning  shall  yet  be  taken  in  iheir  own 
craftiness.  For  a  returning  sense  of  justice,  a  clearer  perception 
of  the  great  truth  of  man's  brotheihood,  the  onward  progress  of 
the  swelling  tide  of  freedom,  shall  yet  sweep  the  accursed  system 
of  slavery  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

*  Jay's  View,        f  Speech  of  Mr.  Grennell,  H.  R.  Dec.  18, 1838. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE.  —  Mr.  Loring  Moody,  of  Boston,  has 
$  handed   us  a  pamphlet,  being  a  compilation  from  the  works  ol 
$  Wm.  Jay,  J.  R.  Giddings,  and  others,  with  valuable  additions  by 
I  Mr.  Moody,  on  the  relation  of  the  U.  S.  Government  to  Slavery. 
s  It  embraces  the  History  of  the  Mexican  War,  its  origin  and  ob- 
jects.    It  is  a  very  valuable  store-house  of  facts,  compiled  almost 
entirely   from  the   U.    S.  Laws,  and  Public  Documents.     We 
know  of  no  work  equal  Jo  it  for  general  circulation.     Price, -20 
cents.     We  urged  upon  Mr.  Moody  the  importance  of  having  the  i; 
work  on  sale  at  the  Book  Stores  of  this  city,  and  we  trust  an 
\  arrangement  will  be  made  to  bring  that  work  into  the  reach  of 
\  our  fellow  citizens.     It  traces  the  slave  action  of  the  government 
f  from    1790,  and   brings   it    to   our   own    year,    1847.  —  Bangor 
\  Gazette,  Jan.  29,  1847. 

FACTS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE,  showing  the  relations  of  the  U.  S.  < 
Government  to  Slavery,  embracing  a  history  of  the  Mexican  S 
War,  its  origin  and  object.  Compiled  from  official  and  omen 
authentic  documents.  By  Loring  Moody. 

We  trust  and  hope  that  the  work  will  be  purchased  extensively) 
for  several  reasons.  1st.  It  is  a  compilation  of  facts  upon  impor-> 
tant  subjects.  2d.  It  is  sold  at  a  low  price,  and  whether  the  s 
reader  can  agree  with  Mr.  Moody  or  not,  in  respect  to  his  infer- s 
ences,  the  FACTS  are  worth  the  time  and  the  price  of  the  book,  —  * 
to  be  used  by  citizens  of  all  parties,  —  each  in  his  own  way.  —  \ 
Evening  Gazette. 

FACTS  ON  SLAVERY,  —  By  Loring  Moody,  published  and  for  sale  < 
at  the  office  of  the  Liberator,  21  Cornhill.     Mr.  Moody  has  made^ 
up  a  small  18mo.  volume,  of  142  pages  of  facts,  "showing  the:; 
relations  of  the  United  States  Government  to  Slavery;"  includ-j 
ing  a  "  history  of  the  Mexican  War,"  to  the  capture  of  "Vera 
Crux.     He  has  drawn  freely  for  his  facts,  upon  Jay's  View  of 
Slavery,  Giddings'  Rights  of  the  Free  Slates,   Lundy's  War  in 
Texas,  &c.     It  is  a  useful  compilation  of  facts.  —  Emancipat 


